Ahn Gwi-Ryeong: Woman goes viral for confronting an armed soldier during South Korea’s political crisis

The video, taken in the early hours of Dec 4, shows the woman, now identified as a South Korean opposition politician, appearing to push back against a soldier holding a gun - by grabbing the gun's nozzle herself, pushing him back and yelling in his face. 

Another man is later seen tussling with the soldier, but is pushed away. The woman then reaches for the soldier’s gun, but another soldier grabs her hand and separates her from the first soldier. The back and forth continues for some moments as soldiers now besiege her completely.

The footage was uploaded on online news outlet Ohmynews’ YouTube channel, where it garnered more than 506,000 views as within hours. On other platforms, like X, it has amassed over 7 million views.

Korean news website Koreaboo reporting about the incident, said that the woman shouted, “Aren’t you ashamed of yourselves?” and demanding the soldier to “Let go.”

The woman in the video has since been identified as Ms Ahn Gwi Ryeong, 35, from the opposition Democratic Party of Korea. According to her social media profile, she is the party’s regional chairwoman for Seoul’s Dobong District and a former news anchor.

She previously worked as a news anchor for YTN before joining politics in 2022, where she became part of a committee supporting Lee Jae-myung, a former presidential candidate. 

Thousands of irate protesters gathered in front of the National Assembly in Seoul after Mr Yoon declared martial law late on Dec 3, the country’s first in more than 40 years, to quell what he called “anti-state forces”. 

The President would soon quickly backed down hours later, after lawmakers voted to oppose the declaration.

Ahn has been a vocal critic of Mr Yoon on social media, calling for his resignation as well as for the investigation of him and his wife, Ms Kim Keon Hee.

Ms Kim has faced backlash in South Korea after she was implicated in a luxury bag scandal, which emerged after hidden camera footage showed her receiving a Christian Dior pouch as a gift.

She has also been accused of academic plagiarism and lying about her credentials, as well as of involvement in stock manipulation.