South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol faces a new and potentially more robust attempt to arrest him on insurrection charges after a top investigator vowed to do whatever it takes to break a security blockade and take in the impeached leader.

Protesters both supporting and opposing to the embattled Yoon continued to brave freezing temperatures to stage rallies on the streets around the presidential compound on Wednesday after a court re-issued a warrant to arrest Yoon a day earlier.

The Presidential Security Service (PSS) was seen this week fortifying the compound with barbed wire and barricades using buses to block access to the hillside villa where Yoon is believed to be, having defied summons to appear for questioning.

Yoon is under criminal investigation for insurrection over his December 3 martial law bid that stunned South Korea and led to the first arrest warrant to be issued for a sitting president.

He is also involved in a separate Constitutional Court trial over his December 14 impeachment for violating his constitutional duties with the late-night martial law declaration.

Oh Dong-woon, head of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials - which is leading the probe against Yoon - apologised on Tuesday for a failed arrest attempt last Friday after a tense six-hour stand-off inside the presidential compound.

Oh called off the arrest attempt after being blocked from entering the presidential compound by a human chain of hundreds of PSS members and military guards.

"We'll do our best to accomplish our goal by thoroughly preparing this time with great determination that the second warrant execution will be the last," Oh told a parliament committee. It was not immediately clear how long the new arrest warrant would last.(Reuters)