Soldiers rumored to have been given live ammunition during martial law

Soldiers deployed to the National Assembly in Seoul get off a helicopter in the early hours of Wednesday. (Yonhap)

A photo of soldiers mobilized during martial law suggests that the military armed them with live ammunition, a local media outlet reported Wednesday.

Kyunghang Shinmun revealed a photo, which it received from one of its readers, that showed Army soldiers sitting next to what appear to be boxes of live bullets at the National Assembly sometime between late Tuesday and early Wednesday. Another photo showed a soldier carrying what is believed to be a box of ammunition while entering the legislature.

The troops were deployed to the National Assembly under martial law declared by President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday night, blocking people from going in while simultaneously attempting to approach the lawmakers who were already inside.

The 190 lawmakers who managed to enter, by various means including jumping the fence or pushing past the soldiers, voted unanimously for the martial law to be lifted immediately.

It is yet unclear whether the troops sent to the National Assembly did indeed have live ammunition with them.

The soldiers were clearly seen armed with firearms and equipped with gas masks and night-vision goggles. But many of the soldiers were carrying guns without magazines attached to them.