Meet Ahn Gwi Ryeong, The Badass Woman Who Took On An Armed Korean Soldier
On Tuesday, December 3, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared an “emergency martial law” via a televised briefing, promising to “eradicate pro-North Korean forces and protect the constitutional democratic order.” He accused the opposition of “controlling the parliament,” “sympathizing” with North Korea and immobilizing the government through anti-state actions.
Since then, Seoul has been sent into chaos, pitting civilians and even former soldiers against soldiers.
Cheers erupt as soldiers are pulling back from the building. For now, the South Korean people have successfully stopped soldiers from entering parliament pic.twitter.com/Ea6bxQhjPu
— Joseph Kim (@josungkim) December 3, 2024
the guy in the glasses deflected that soldier so easily wow. https://t.co/KNTgrPEY07
— nibby⁷ loves gojo (@zoromins) December 3, 2024
Amid this chaos, a woman courageously fought back. A video was captured of the incident, featuring the woman screaming, “Aren’t you ashamed of yourselves?” and asking a soldier to “Let go” seemingly of his rifle, as she grabbed ahold of it and struggled with him.
The clip went viral with over 4M views at the time of writing, with netizens praising her bravery.
이 여성분 엄청 용감하심 군인한테서 총 빼앗으려고 하시다가 총 겨눠지기까지 하는데 절대로 굴하지 않아 pic.twitter.com/tk0nG1MO2L
— 蕉文 (@youlu_v0v) December 3, 2024
This woman is so brave. She’s trying to take the gun away from the soldier and, at one point, is at gunpoint—but she does not back down.
— youlu_v0v
“aren't you ashamed?" while pulling a fully-armed soldier's gun
you will ALWAYS find a woman standing at the forefront, fighting for justice https://t.co/L7ljMyyxUm
— ً (@17rvelvet) December 3, 2024
The woman has been identified as Ahn Gwi Ryeong (also known as Ann Gwi Ryeong, according to her Instagram handle). She’s a member of President Yoon’s opposing party as she is the Democratic Party of Korea’s Regional Chairperson for Dobong District, Seoul.
View this post on Instagram
Before she picked up politics in 2022, as part of a committee working for Lee Jae Myung, a presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea at the time and now the viral man who live-streamed himself climbing past soldiers into parliament, she was a news anchor for the YTN channel and did some other press-related work.
Leader of the South Korean Democratic Party livestreams himself climbing over the blockade wall to enter the parliament via YouTube. pic.twitter.com/RHwXLXUnQ2
— Pop Base (@PopBase) December 3, 2024
This is not the first time she has been on the frontline of the current South Korean government resistance. She was previously very vocal about asking for President Yoon and the First Lady of South Korea to be investigated.
끝까지 함께해주시겠습니까? #안귀령 #윤석열정권규탄 #김건희특검촉구 pic.twitter.com/DmIt0933Au
— 안귀령 (@anngwiryeong) November 19, 2024
Watch the full video of the situation below.