Missing South Korean Teenager Likely Joined ISIS
I am willing to bet like many foreign jihadis this teenager is probably a loser who spends a lot of time in front of his computer and feels like joining ISIS is some kind of way to feel empowered:
A South Korean teenager who recently vanished in Turkey may have crossed the border into Syria to join the Islamic State (IS), a Seoul official said Tuesday.
The whereabouts of the 18-year-old Korean, identified only by his surname Kim, have been unknown since he arrived in Turkey on Jan. 10. A local Turkish newspaper claimed that he had exchanged e-mails with IS before traveling to the country.
Citing CCTV footage obtained by Turkish police, the ranking South Korean foreign ministry official said Kim took a van together with an unidentified man after meeting him in front of a hotel in Kilis, a city situated near the border with Syria.
Kim and the unknown man then got off near a refugee camp in Besiriye, about 18 kilometers southeast from Kilis, on that day, the official said, adding the van with a Syrian plate is an unlicensed taxi.
“Their whereabouts have not been known since they got off in Besiriye,” the official said, asking not to be named. “There are also no records showing that they crossed the border at a checkpoint.”
There has been no clear evidence so far supporting that Kim might have joined the IS group, but Seoul doesn’t exclude such a possibility, the official said.
“The government cannot presuppose a possibility (that Kim might have joined the IS), but (if it is confirmed), it is a very worrisome situation,” he said. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but ultimately I am willing to bet this teenager will regret doing this.
How much do you think Korean teenager is worth? Two Japanese are worth $200M.
Payable by Yakuza Bitcoin or Hawala Express Card. No? I think the kid was influenced through online forum and gaming groups. Imagine if they all were a part of some online shooting game clan. And those foreign fighters may have been travel funded by hawala. $200M would be cause for a suspicious activity report by legally registered ivts businesses…
I hope he will survive to learn his mistake.
PS: I though one of the hostage, Haruna Yukawa, was killed last year.
Here is link about his life before he became hostage: https://medium.com/war-is-boring/the-tragedy-of-islamic-states-japanese-hostage-1d18bf794ac8
If you read the article, you realize he represent all the shut-in in Asia.
Brian, do you suppose Islamic State discriminately accepts and rejects foreign jihadists based on perceived value to their cause?
And perhaps IS may have suspected him of being a case resembling that of Akihito Saito – a PMC contractor killed in Iraq after he was in the French Foreign Legion and the Japanese Self Defense Force? To support your observation, they both seem to represent the disenfranchised (no one just rationally and suddenly decides to go join the FFL one day). I’ve heard of similar cases of disenfranchisement or the “overcome” among Koreans as well. If such cases are increasingly becoming common, then we may have a phenomenal risk of social unrest in the future. And instead of IS attracting foreign fighters from the free and stable nations, there may be homegrown jihad in those respective countries. Somehow, I don’t think IS will conduct direct, coordinated terrorist attacks as a consolidated action cell, but the radicalization of the disenfranchised may lead to premeditated and independent actions – yeah, the active shooters since the 1990s and radically charged answers to act on the “call to struggle”. And perhaps IS isn’t necessarily making direct threats (intent to deliver, or not), but indicating trends to the future? We are seeing it right now, aren’t we? Heh, could you say that IS represents something of a jihadist socialist movement?
As a Christian, I would like to say that Jesus Christ is the answer, but the flesh (bread-harvest) and blood (wine-fruits) of Christ have been so corrupted (can’t think of a corresponding term for harvest) and diluted by churches in Korea and other nations that practice religious liberty that the disenfranchised will tend towards other alternative answers to their internal, moral and external, environmental crises and challenges.
Anyways, just my thoughts and what I believe, and based on all that, I think we have an emerging global crisis here…
KP, it was just casual observation of how Haruna Yukawa’s desire to find place in the world is widespread and search for it may have blind them to risks they haven’t anticipated.
Right, and if there was no place for him in the world, he would not have been born. Well, that’s another dimension of discussion that could lead us both to dementia-ion. Har har…
“The government cannot presuppose a possibility (that Kim might have joined the IS), but (if it is confirmed), it is a very worrisome situation,”
Please, Korea, don’t be worried.
Please understand this was a willing choice by a free person… and like all willing choices, those who make them are primarily responsible for dealing with their consequences.
Please put minimal resources into this issue and, instead, use these resources to better the nation and improve the lives of all Koreans who are working hard in Korea and making better choices.
At the least, reserve these efforts to assist Koreans who might find themselves in a similar situation through no fault of their own.
An additional thought…
Unlike uninformed American voters and self-serving politicians squandering capital, real and political, every time some American idiot gets caught up in North Korea, 100% by their own fault so far, the Japanese are more realistic.
“As the Japanese public learns more about Yukawa, it has become socially acceptable to write him off as an idiot. His father has apologized to the Japanese people for his son’s poor upbringing. Taxpayers are openly asking why the government should waste their money trying to bring Yukawa home.”
Ling and Lee, et al., should still be in North Korea… which not only would have saved American taxpayers money but also would have served as a warning to the following string of idiots who certainly saw the effort and attention all the previous idiots got.
The Japanese and Koreans need to let these idiots go… and then play the unedited beheadings on the national news at every chance to remind the population that playing crappy games wins crappy prizes.
The resources and lives saved will be worth any criticism from the minority of people who don’t grasp how the world works.
Also this remind me of young South Korean guy who went to North Korea, thinking he will be welcomed because he made some favorable pro North Korean comment on the web. Instead NK jailed him for few years and when they released him to SK, he was charged with violating National Security Act.
CH,
Reminders of playing crappy games and winning crappy prizes is usually done through the terrorism threat and travel advisories and warnings. Indeed you are correct to indicate the increaseing phenomenal idiocy of this sort taking place throughout the world. And for those idiots that get hustled or played into joining up with IS to destabilize the region for an IS-based caliphate, the IS and the ignorant media do not release the troubled background of their supporters – instead, they are recognized for their functions, roles, and actions. As for the idiots, they are free to do most of what they desire and are able to choose, but there are always consequences (known or unknown, apparent and not) for their actions. And it usually involves and impacts others in trying to deal with and stabilize the resulting consequences.
KP