Police say Kim likely volunteered to join Islamic State
A Korean teenager who went missing recently in Turkey voluntarily crossed the border into Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group, police concluded Wednesday.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said the 18-year-old, surnamed Kim, actively collected information about ISIS and exchanged messages with a person who is believed to be a member of ISIS, before leaving for Turkey on Jan. 8.
One day before the trip, Kim wrote on his Facebook page, “I want to leave my country and family. I just want to start a new life,” police said.
In March, he joined a Facebook group called “Join Islamic State,” where he asked questions about how to join ISIS.
He conducted an internet search of the words “ISIS,” “Turkey,” “Syria” and “Islam” a total of 517 times on his computer last year, police noted. Also, there are 47 photos related to ISIS.
“It is unlikely that he was kidnapped,” police said. “After looking into his computer, we found that he was quite obsessed with a trip to Turkey and booked a hotel in Kilis,” a town located close to the Syrian border.
Police also found that Kim made phone calls on Jan. 9 and 10 before taking a taxi with a Syrian license plate.
Previously, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said that Kim took a van together with an unidentified man after meeting him in front of a hotel in Kilis, citing surveillance camera footage obtained by Turkish police.
Kim and the unknown man then got off near a refugee camp in Besiriye, about 18 kilometers southeast of Kilis, on Jan. 10, the official said, adding that the van with a Syrian plate was an unlicensed taxi.
However, no hard evidence has yet been found proving that Kim has joined ISIS.
Kim used t he ID “sunni mujahideen” for a Twitter account that he opened in 2013. On there, he first declared his intention to join ISIS, police say, adding that there were questions in English and Arabic on his feed about how to do so.
Kim also posted misogynistic messages on Twitter last year, including, “the current era is the era that males are being discriminated against,” and, “I hate feminists so I like ISIS.”
Experts say his anger toward women might originate in his background, when he dropped out of a middle school after being ostracized by other students.
During questioning by police, his parents said that Kim promised to study hard to pass the high school qualification exam after the trip.
Kim also used Surespot, a secure mobile messaging app, to exchange messages with a person in Turkey last month. This is known to be a means of communication used by ISIS for recruitment.
The radical group posted a video Tuesday threatening to kill two Japanese men unless it receives a ransom of $200 million.
Consequently, concerns are rising that the group might also use Kim as a means of extorting money from the Korean government.
ISIS controls large parts of Syria and Iraq and is blamed for numerous terrorist atrocities in the area. ISIS has also been recruiting young people from around the world using social media.
The Korean foreign ministry has issued a travel warning for Southeastern Turkey, especially within 10 kilo- meters of the Syrian border.
Korea and Syria have no official diplomatic relations.