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A Los Angeles The man who armed himself and went down to the street in 1992 to protect a local company at the height of Rodney King disorders says that today’s rioters in the city are astromeurized for political purposes.
Tony Moon, 53, is what is now known as a “Korean on the roof”.
Thirty-three years ago, the 19-year-old Korean-American was invited to join a spontaneous movement alongside other Koreans-American who armed themselves To protect their lives and property against the violent rioters who were upset by the verdict during a trial against officers who beat Rodney King during a traffic stop.
Tony Moon in 1994. Two years earlier, he helped protect a business during Rodney King riots. (Tony Moon)
Photos: See the anti-Trump violence that took place in the streets of Los Angeles in the last week
The police were acquitted for assault and excessive force, plunging the city in tumult while rioters were trying to burn Los Angeles, causing 63 deaths and more than 2,000 injuries, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Determined to protect their livelihoods, the “Koreans of the roof” have taken up the street – and on the roofs of their own companies – to dissuade the rioters from causing trouble in their neighborhoods.
“When the riots took place, it was nothing that anyone who was obviously planned, but we were well aware of Rodney King and the Verdict that descended,” Moon told Fox News Digital. “And when it happened, it’s when everything came out.
Tony Moon was a “Korean on the roof” during the riots of Rodney King in Los Angeles in 1992. (Tony Moon)
During the attack, Radio Korea became an essential source of information for American Korean communities, alerting them to potential threats.
“He called me on Thursday evening after the announcement of the radio asking volunteers to come to the community, to defend the community,” said Moon. “And he told me that his brother’s store could be threatened with fires and looting that was slowly traveling north south, like the South Center and the South.”
Moon has described a tense atmosphere, which, according to him, had built between the black and Korean communities of the city since the deadly shot of a black girl by a Korean store owner the previous year.
THE civilian disorders At that time, Moon said, was organic.
A rioter signals a Mexican national flag next to a fire car during a demonstration following federal immigration operations, in the Compton district of Los Angeles, California, on June 7, 2025. (Getty Images)
“The feeling was then very different from what it is now,” he said. “Now everything is made. And not only that, but there is no real basic support from communities. You know, that’s what I would say [is] The second part of BLM / Antifa of 2020 which is postponed. “”
“But he does not have the same traction and the same support as in 2020 to finance the police, [and with] Black lives count, “he continued.” I don’t see that, and what they are looking for is that they are looking for someone at the martyr. They are looking for a death. They are looking for the next George Floyd. “”
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Riots broke out in American cities after the death of George Floyd in Minnesota in 2020. (With kind permission: Benjamin Crump via TMX.News)
Moon underlined his support for peaceful demonstrations, but said that when he is harmful to goods, vandalization and looting, these activities cross the line.
He also advised Angelenos who feel dangerous due to violent crimes to do what he and other members of the Korean-American community did more than three decades ago: Arm themselves.
“If it is a riot or if there is a kind of chaos, the social chaos in progress in your neighborhood, invest in firearms,” he said. “I mean, support the second amendment. Buy a weapon, buy a rifle. I mean, the easiest weapon to shoot is a shotgun. So invest in something like that and learn to shoot it and compensate you, that is part of your defense, whether for your home or business.”
A demonstrator acts the Mexican flag in the midst of clashes with the police in the streets surrounding the federal building during a demonstration following federal immigration operations in Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025. The demonstrators reversed the cars and failed with the security forces in Los Angeles on June 8, when the police kept the protests far from the national troops President of Donald Trump’s guard sent to the streets of the second American city. (Ringo Chiu / AFP via Getty Images)
Earlier this month, riots tormented Los Angeles, a so-called sanctuary city, from a series of Immigration and customs application (ICE) sweeps the targeting of criminal illegal immigrants.
Federal police and police Faced with rioters In the streets of the city, while these agitators have burned cars, looted businesses, resumed the streets and graffitated buildings in the heart of downtown Los Angeles with anti-ice and anti-top messages.
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The mayor of the city, Karen Bass, blamed the president Donald Trump For provoking the troubles by deploying the troops of the National Guard and the US Marines to protect federal property, and Governor Gavin Newsom continued the Trump administration for this decision.
The Trump administration ordered 2,000 more members of the city’s national guard last week, and Ice will continue to carry out operations in the city.
