Kim Ou-joon, a liberal journalist and the popular former host of Traffic Broadcasting System’s "News Factory," said via phone during his YouTube news show on Wednesday morning that military troops had visited his home, prompting him to escape. Known for being openly left of center and publicly critical of the conservative government, Kim stated that he is now "in hiding at an unknown location" after being targeted by authorities.

Kim hosted TBS’ radio podcast "News Factory" from 2016 to 2022, during which he became a prominent figure in South Korea’s media landscape.

Kim's podcast was extremely popular, with the show logging a 14.7 percent listener rating, securing the top spot among all radio programs in a 2022 radio listener survey held for the Seoul metropolitan area by Korea Research.

After the Seoul Metropolitan Council cut TBS' budget in 2022, citing the podcast's bias, Kim has continued broadcasting via his "Gyeomson (Modesty) is Nothing” YouTube channel, which boasts approximately 1.7 million subscribers.

On Wednesday, former KBS journalist Lee Jae-seok, appearing as the temporary host of Kim’s morning news show, reported that at around 12:50 a.m., roughly 10 martial law troops had blocked the entrance to the show's studio in Chungjeongno-dong, Seoul.

The incident occurred shortly after Yoon declared emergency martial law at around 10:30 p.m. This was followed by the Martial Law Command issuing a proclamation that placed all media activities under the control of the Martial Law Command starting at 11:00 p.m. Yoon eventually lifted martial law at 4:26 a.m. this morning.

At the time, a YouTube live broadcast discussing the emergency martial law decree was being streamed from the show's studio. Upon noticing what appeared to be armed martial law troops stationed at the entrance on the first floor, employees inside the building began recording videos of them.

In a phone interview broadcast on his "Gyeomson (Modesty) is Nothing" YouTube channel on Wednesday morning, Kim stated that he had narrowly escaped being captured by a military arrest team that had come to his home early Wednesday morning.

"I’ve been informed that I am banned from leaving the country and that an arrest warrant has been issued," said Kim, adding that he had traveled far overnight to evade capture.

As of now, no other media outlets have reported similar military actions at their offices.