A 28-year-old firefighter is being hailed a hero after a video of him saving a woman who was hanging from the balcony of a high-rise building went viral.

Firefighter Shin Gang-min saved a woman in her 30s who was hanging from the railing of a 13th-floor apartment unit in Wansan-gu, Jeonju, North Jeolla Province on Tuesday. The woman had climbed over in an attempt to take her own life, which the Jeonbuk Fire Headquarters learned of after receiving a report at around 5:46 p.m.

After the police said that they were having difficulty persuading the woman out of jumping, firefighters went up to the 14th floor to a unit right above where the woman was. Shin bound himself in rope and swiftly descended to where she was, getting her to safety.

"We contemplated the best way to rescue her safety and quietly, so that she would not get scared... I would've been scared myself if it had just been me, but I wasn't, because I was with my team," Shin was quoted as saying.

Shin has been a firefighter for nearly two years, having previously served for seven years as a member of the Republic of Korea Army Special Warfare Command.