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Korean man missing in Turkey amid media report he joins IS

January 16, 2015

A Turkish newspaper reported that a Korean man, whose identity has yet to be confirmed, might have crossed the border with Syria and joined IS, citing some undisclosed sources. (Yonhap)

ISTANBUL (Yonhap) — A South Korean teenager has recently vanished in Turkey, the South Korean Embassy and a local media report said Saturday, raising the possibility that he might have joined the extremist Muslim militant group IS in Syria.

Earlier, Milliyet, a local daily newspaper, reported that a Korean man, whose identity has yet to be confirmed, might have crossed the border with Syria and joined IS, citing some undisclosed sources.

The report claimed the young man, who is in his late teens exchanged emails with IS before illegally entering Turkey with another person on Jan. 8.

A South Korean embassy official said that the report contains some “inaccurate” parts, and added that the embassy is working together with the Turkish government to find his whereabouts with all possibilities not being excluded.

The man was last seen going out a hotel on Jan. 10 in a southern Turkish town named Kilis bordering with Syria before going missing. His disappearance was reported by his companion to the embassy, which later sent its officials to the area to find him.