U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to South Korea on Monday as an affirmation of continued support for the East Asian country as it struggles to navigate a historic constitutional crisis.

Lawyers of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO) probing his short-lived martial law decree on Dec. 3 are at odds over whether the CIO has the authority to arrest and pursue criminal charges against him.

Dozens of anti-corruption agency investigators and assisting police officers attempted to detain the impeached president on Friday but retreated from his residence in Seoul after a tense five-hour standoff with the presidential security service.