In the 6-hour mayhem of South Korea's martial law, a woman's act of resistance was a defining moment

In this image made from a video, An Gwiryeong, front right, confronts one of the soldiers as parliamentarians scrambled to get inside the National Assembly building to reverse martial law, in Seoul Dec. 4, 2024. (YONHAP NEWS TV via AP)

By YONG HO KIM and DAVID RISING Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — In the groundswell of fury and defiance that erupted among South Koreans after their president declared martial law, curtailing the country’s hard-won freedoms, it was perhaps the iconic moment.

As parliamentarians scrambled to get inside the National Assembly building to reverse the emergency measure, a woman in a leather coat confronted one of the soldiers who was trying to stop the lawmakers, grabbed his automatic rifle and tried to tug it away while yelling “Aren’t you ashamed?”

As the soldier backed away, he raised the rifle’s barrel toward the woman. She pressed on, grabbing it as it was pointed at her chest, still yelling, before he gave up, turned and walked away.

Video of the encounter quickly went viral and became a social media rallying cry that helped fuel the six-hour outburst of protest before President Yoon Suk Yeol was forced to rescind the martial law order early Wednesday morning.

But the woman in the leather coat, An Gwiryeong, told The Associated Press it was just one of many acts of resistance that cold Tuesday night in Seoul.

“I don’t think my actions were that special, in fact, there were many people at the scene that day who were much braver than I was,” the 35-year-old said in an interview Friday in a parliamentary office.

“For example, the citizens who couldn’t enter the National Assembly were outside, blocking the armored vehicles and showing such courage,” she said. “So I don’t think my actions were particularly special or braver than anyone else’s.”

A former television anchor, An left her job at YTN television in 2022 and joined opposition leader Lee Jae-myung’s presidential campaign in 2022 as a spokesperson.

She was the Democratic Party’s candidate for Dobong district in Seoul in the 2024 general election but lost, and is currently a party spokesperson.

When Yoon declared martial law late on Tuesday, An, like many South Koreans, watched the 10:29 p.m. national address on television.

Shocked at the announcement, she jumped into a taxi and headed for the National Assembly, one of the thousands of people who did the same.

While South Korea’s president can declare martial law, which Yoon used to announce bans on anti-government demonstrations and political parties and controls on the media, the constitution allows the National Assembly to vote to end it.

Following his announcement, Yoon dispatched police and soldiers to the National Assembly to prevent lawmakers from getting inside to hold a vote, and people like An streamed to the building to make sure that they could.

“When I arrived at the National Assembly, I could hear the sound of helicopters,” she recalled. “The martial law troops were already in a standoff with the citizens.”

She said troops were trying to enter the building, and she joined the growing throng of people trying to hold them back.

“I thought, we have to prevent that,” she said. “If the entrance here is breached and the martial law troops get inside, they will block the vote, and then not only will the martial law not be lifted, but our country’s democracy will be over. There will be no next time.”

That’s when she found herself confronting a soldier in full battle gear, grabbed his rifle and tried to wrest it from him.

“At that moment, I thought, “Is this real?” she recalled.

“I was scared because I’m just a human. But as I said, the thought that we must stop them was stronger than my fear. I didn’t feel it was real because armed soldiers with guns entering the National Assembly? I thought it was ridiculous.”

An and the others succeeded, and enough lawmakers, including members of Yoon’s own party, were able to get into the main hall of the assembly to form a quorum. Just after 1 a.m. they voted 190-0 to end martial law and the security forces began leaving the area minutes later.

At 4:30 a.m. martial law was officially lifted following an emergency meeting of Yoon’s Cabinet. But An stayed on at the National Assembly, unconvinced it was all over.

“I didn’t know what might happen next,” she said. “I couldn’t let my guard down.”

Eventually she did go home, but said it took until Thursday for her to start coming down from the adrenaline-fueled mayhem of that night.

“I’ve started to feel my body aching a bit as the tension has somewhat eased,” she said.

Now, she said warily, it’s a matter of seeing whether calls for Yoon’s impeachment will be successful.

“I don’t think it’s over yet,” she said.

___ Rising reported from Bangkok. Jung Yoon Kim in Bangkok contributed to this story.