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A Los Angeles man who armed himself and took to the streets in 1992 to protect a local business during the height of the Rodney King unrest says today’s rioters in the city are astroturfed for political purposes.
Tony Moon, 53, is what is now known as a “rooftop Korean.”
Thirty-three years ago, the Korean-American, then 19, was asked to join a spontaneous movement alongside other Korean-Americans who armed themselves to protect their lives and property from being destroyed by violent rioters who were upset over the verdict in 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 the Rodney King riots. (Tony Moon)
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The officers were acquitted on charges of assault and excessive force, plunging the city into tumult as rioters attempted to burn down Los Angeles, causing 63 deaths and more than 2,000 injuries, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Determined to protect their livelihoods, “rooftop Koreans” took to the streets – and to the rooftops of their own businesses – to deter rioters from causing trouble in their neighborhoods.
“When the riots occurred, it wasn’t anything that anyone foresaw obviously, but we were well aware of Rodney King and the verdict that was coming down,” Moon told Digital. “And when that occurred is when everything kind of popped off. The reason why I went out was because a close and good friend of mine, his older brother had a stereo shop that was on the outskirts of near Koreatown.”
Tony Moon was a “rooftop Korean” during the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles in 1992. (Tony Moon)
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During the attack, Radio Korea became a go-to source of information for the Korean-American communities, alerting them to potential threats.
“He called me Thursday evening after the radio announcement asking for volunteers to come to the community, to defend the community,” Moon said. “And he told me that his brother’s store might be threatened from the fires and the looting that was slowly traveling up north from the south, like South Central and South LA.”
Moon described a tense atmosphere, which he said had been building between the Black and Korean communities in the city since the fatal shooting of a Black girl by a Korean shop owner the year prior.
The civil unrest at that time, Moon said, was organic.
A rioter waves a Mexican national flag next to a car on fire during a protest following federal immigration operations, in the Compton neighborhood of Los Angeles, California on June 7, 2025. (Getty Images)
“The sentiment was much different then than it is now,” he said. “Now it’s all manufactured. And not only that, but there’s no true grassroots support from any of the communities. You know, it’s what I would say [is] part two of BLM/Antifa from 2020 that’s being carried over.”
“But it doesn’t have the same traction and support that it did back in 2020 with defunding the police, [and with] Black Lives Matter,” he continued. “I don’t see that, and what they’re looking for is, they’re looking for someone to martyr. They’re looking for a death. They’re looking for the next George Floyd.”
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Riots broke out in U.S. cities after George Floyd’s death in Minnesota in 2020. (Courtesy: Benjamin Crump via TMX.news)
Moon emphasized his support for peaceful protest, but said that when damaging property, vandalization and looting occur, those activities cross the line.
He also advised Angelenos who feel unsafe due to violent crime to do what he and others in the Korean-American community did more than three decades ago: arm themselves.
“If it’s a riot or if there’s any sort of mayhem, social chaos going on in your neighborhood, invest in firearms,” he said. “I mean, support the Second Amendment. Buy a gun, buy a rifle. I mean, the most easiest weapon to shoot is a shotgun. So invest in something like that and learn how to shoot it and be proficient with it, so that way it becomes part of your defense, whether it’s for your home or your business.”
A protester waves the Mexican flag amid clashes with law enforcement in the streets surrounding the federal building during a protest following federal immigration operations in Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025. Demonstrators torched cars and scuffled with security forces in Los Angeles on June 8, as police kept protesters away from the National Guard troops President Donald Trump sent to the streets of the second biggest US city. (RINGO CHIU/AFP via Getty Images)
Earlier this month riots plagued Los Angeles, a so-called sanctuary city, since a series of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sweeps targeting criminal illegal immigrants.
Federal law enforcement and police clashed with rioters in the city’s streets, while those agitators burned cars, looted businesses, took over streets and graffitied buildings in the heart of downtown Los Angeles with anti-ICE and anti-Trump messaging.
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The city’s mayor, Karen Bass, has blamed President Donald Trump for causing the unrest by deploying National Guard troops and U.S. Marines to protect federal property, and Gov. Gavin Newsom sued the Trump administration for the move.
The Trump administration ordered 2,000 more members of the National Guard to the city last week, and ICE will continue conducting operations in the city.
