Ahn Gwi-ryeong, spokesman for the main opposition party, took to the street and confronted armed soldiers outside Parliament. Fearless, the former journalist’s attitude became a symbol of resistance to martial law in South Korea.
A video that went viral shows Ahn Gwi-ryeong, a South Korean journalist who embarked on a political career, confronting armed soldiers outside the South Korean Parliament in Seoul. The incident happened after the President of South Korea declared martial law. Ahn is a spokesman for the main opposition party, the Democratic Party, and a former center for broadcaster YTN.
Hundreds of citizens gathered at the South Korean Parliament on Tuesday to contest the imposition of martial law, declared by President Yoon Suk Yeol. The head of state of South Korea claimed that the objective was to stop the threat of “communist forces” from North Korea, accusing the opposition of cooperating with Pyongyang.
It was a chaotic night in South Korea, in which we witnessed scenes that many thought had already passed into the country’s history.
One in particular caught the attention of many: a woman confronting armed soldiers who were sent to control the entrance to the National Assembly.
The images of Ahn Gwi-ryeong, 35, outraged and screaming, grabbing a soldier’s gun were widely shared on the internet.
“I just knew we had to stop this,” he said in an interview with the BBC.
Like many others of South Korea’s younger generation, the word “martial law” was foreign to her, as it had last been declared in 1979.
When Ahn first heard the news, she admitted that “a feeling of panic came over her.”
