Law enforcement authorities are seeking to formally arrest impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is spending his third day at a detention center after his lawyers failed in a last-minute attempt to secure his release.

As 3,000 riot police swarmed his hillside villa on Wednesday, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol huddled with party loyalists, telling them that people were increasingly realising the country's legal system had been hijacked by leftist forces.

Yoon’s detention, after a tense standoff outside the presidential residence, marks the latest chapter in a bewildering series of events since his martial law decree.