Female Fight Champion Is Army Veteran

It is hard to believe just by looking at her appearance that Ahn Ji-hye (25, picture) is a former Korea Special Forces Women’s Army Corps sergeant first class and martial arts champion.

She recently beat women’s kick-boxing champion Kim Hyeon-seong (age 25) in the tourney titled “Neo Fight 10.” In March, Ahn is expected to take part in a match to defend her title as Korea Martial Arts Federation Champion.

She is a former member of the Special Forces Women’s Army Corps. She applied and joined the army in 2002 as a staff sergeant and was discharged from military service in 2006 as a sergeant first class. She managed through heavy training in sky-diving and firearms. She practiced special military martial arts within the troops. She even went to Iraq.

“When sky-diving, I could cover the world with the palm of my hand, and that was a strangely good feeling. It felt like my eyebrows were fluttering.” Based on such feelings up in the sky, Ahn wanted to be assigned the task of infiltrating from above, but instead she was posted to a counter terrorism team. At various army events or on Armed Forces Day, she often presented special martial arts demonstrations. “Whenever I look back on my army days, I remember that it was really fun.” The reason that Ahn left behind military service, her source of pride and enjoyment, however, was because of martial arts.

Ahn is originally from Tongyeong in Gyeongnam Province, and she has practiced martial arts from when she was a senior at Chungmu Girl’s Middle School. She was raised under a Taekwondo master father, so she was familiar with sports from a young age. She found her way to a martial arts gym after coming across a leaflet in her neighborhood.

She used to have a hard time breathing when doing abdominal exercises such as sit ups immediately after running 10km. It was common for her to split her lip or have a swollen face from competing against boys. At times like that, she would drop her head to hide her face when she went home.

“It was really fun to practice the moves that our instructor would teach us, and then to make them my own. Still, there were times when I thought to myself that I must be crazy for doing such a sport, or when it was so tough that I thought about jumping from the rooftop, but I don’t have those thoughts anymore. After I accepted that my face will get hurt as a known fact, it doesn’t bother me anymore. ”

After graduating from high school, Ahn became a martial arts champion and worked as an instructor before joining the army. “I had received recognition in martial arts so I wanted to try something new. Something that was difficult. I felt that I would gain confidence after enduring something hard. After searching, I thought the Special Forces seemed to be the most difficult.”

But service in the Special Forces meant that participating in martial arts matches was forbidden. Once, Ahn secretly took part in a martial arts match and returned to her base, but because of the wounds on her face, she was caught and received a warning. Eventually, she won the approval of the corps to do martial arts, but in order to do martial arts all-out, she decided to leave the military. Her dream is to run a martial arts gym.

“Even with practice in martial arts, I think it’s hard for a woman to beat a man in a match. I don’t say that I can beat a man. I simply want to teach men the sport as someone who has experience. As a woman who is familiar with the sport, I think I will be able to teach in a more delicate manner.”

bluesky@donga.com