The Presidential Security Service is facing additional criticism over its move to block the enforcement of an arrest warrant for impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday, after it was revealed that its use of military personnel to do so came in the face of explicit opposition from the acting defense minister.

The chief of security for South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Sunday he could not cooperate with efforts to arrest the impeached leader, in remarks that could push the political crisis towards another high-stakes confrontation.

Thousands of South Korean citizens were gathering on Sunday near impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol’s residence a day before an arrest warrant for him expires.

Critics of the presidential security service call it a relic from the days of South Korea's strongman leaders.

SEOUL -- Chief of South Korea's presidential security service, Park Jong-joon, on Sunday vowed to keep blocking an attempt to arrest the impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol.

Lawyers for impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol are denouncing efforts to detain him over his short-lived imposition of martial law, while the country’s acting leader expressed concern over

South Korea’s impeached leader is barricaded in his Seoul residence, protected by a blockade of buses, barbed wire, crowds of supporters and his own armed security guards. The question now is whether investigators can arrest him without a violent confrontation.

Protesters have thronged the official residence of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, where officials trying to arrest him were blocked by security guards.

South Korea’s anti-corruption watchdog has secured a warrant extension to arrest impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol and a second attempt to take the embattled leader into custody could happen as early as Wednesday.