SEOUL – Within the groundswell of fury and defiance that erupted amongst South Koreans after their president declared martial legislation, curbing the nation’s hard-won freedoms, it was maybe the enduring second.
As parliamentarians scrambled to get contained in the Nationwide Meeting constructing to reverse the emergency measure, a lady in a leather-based coat confronted one of many troopers who was making an attempt to cease the lawmakers, grabbed his computerized rifle and tried to tug it away whereas yelling “Aren’t you ashamed?”
Because the soldier backed away, he raised the rifle’s barrel towards the lady. She pressed on, grabbing it because it was pointed at her chest, nonetheless yelling, earlier than he gave up, turned and walked away.
Video of the encounter quickly went viral and have become a social media rallying cry that helped gasoline the six-hour outburst of protest earlier than President Yoon Suk Yeol was compelled to rescind the martial legislation order early Wednesday morning.
However the girl within the leather-based coat, An Gwiryeong, advised The Related Press it was simply one in every of many acts of resistance that chilly Tuesday night time in Seoul.
“I do not suppose my actions have been that particular, in reality, there have been many individuals on the scene that day who have been a lot braver than I used to be,” the 35-year-old mentioned in an interview Friday in a parliamentary workplace.
“For instance, the residents who couldn’t enter the Nationwide Meeting have been outdoors, blocking the armored vehicles and displaying such braveness,” she mentioned. “So I don’t suppose my actions have been significantly particular or braver than anybody else’s.”
A former tv anchor, An left her job at YTN tv in 2022 and joined opposition chief Lee Jae-myung’s presidential marketing campaign in 2022 as a spokesperson.
She was the Democratic Get together’s candidate for Dobong district in Seoul within the 2024 basic election however misplaced.
When Yoon declared martial legislation late on Tuesday, An, like many South Koreans, watched the 10:29 p.m. national address on tv.
Shocked on the announcement, she jumped right into a taxi and headed for the Nationwide Meeting, one of many 1000’s of people that did the identical.
Whereas South Korea’s president can declare martial legislation, which Yoon used to announce bans on anti-government demonstrations and political events and controls on the media, the structure permits the Nationwide Meeting to vote to finish it.
Following his announcement, Yoon dispatched police and troopers to the Nationwide Meeting to forestall lawmakers from getting inside to carry a vote, and other people like An streamed to the constructing to ensure that they may.
“After I arrived on the Nationwide Meeting, I might hear the sound of helicopters,” she recalled. “The martial legislation troops have been already in a standoff with the residents.”
She mentioned troops have been making an attempt to enter the constructing, and he or she joined the rising throng of individuals making an attempt to carry them again.
“I assumed, we now have to forestall that,” she mentioned. “If the doorway right here is breached and the martial legislation troops get inside, they are going to block the vote, after which not solely will the martial legislation not be lifted, however our nation’s democracy might be over. There might be no subsequent time.”
That is when she discovered herself confronting a soldier in full battle gear, grabbed his rifle and tried to wrest it from him.
“At that second, I assumed, “Is that this actual?” she recalled.
”I used to be scared as a result of I’m only a human. However as I mentioned, the thought that we should cease them was stronger than my worry. I didn’t really feel it was actual as a result of armed troopers with weapons coming into the Nationwide Meeting? I assumed it was ridiculous.”
An and the others succeeded, and sufficient lawmakers, together with members of Yoon’s personal occasion, have been in a position to get into the primary corridor of the meeting to type a quorum. Simply after 1 a.m. they voted 190-0 to finish martial legislation and the safety forces started leaving the world minutes later.
At 4:30 a.m. martial law was officially lifted following an emergency assembly of Yoon’s Cupboard. However An stayed on on the Nationwide Meeting, unconvinced it was throughout.
“I did not know what would possibly occur subsequent,” she mentioned. “I could not let my guard down.”
Ultimately she did go house, however mentioned it took till Thursday for her to start out coming down from the adrenaline-fueled mayhem of that night time.
“I’ve began to really feel my physique aching a bit as the strain has considerably eased,” she mentioned.
Now, she mentioned warily, it is a matter of seeing whether or not calls for Yoon’s impeachment might be profitable.
“I do not suppose it is over but,” she mentioned.
___ Rising reported from Bangkok. Jung Yoon Kim in Bangkok contributed to this story.
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