Meet Ahn Gwi Ryeong, The Badass Woman Who Took On An Armed Korean Soldier

She was literally wrestling the gun out of the soldier’s hands.

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.

President Yoon
President Yoon Suk Yeol  | Kim Hong-Ji/AP

Since then, Seoul has been sent into chaos, pitting civilians and even former soldiers against soldiers.

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.

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

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.

 

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A post shared by 안귀령 (@anngwiryeong)

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.

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.

Watch the full video of the situation below.

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