MOSCOW, January 17 (Sputnik) – an official from the South Korean foreign ministry has disclosed to the media that an 18-year-old South Korean has gone missing in the southern Turkish town of Kilis, close to the border with Syria, amid reports that the teenager has joined the Islamic State.
"The man disappeared on January 10 after he left a hotel," the source told AFP, adding that "we dispatched officials from our embassy on Tuesday and since then they have been searching for him, together with Turkish police."
AFP also quoted media reports which claim that the teenager had engaged in email correspondence with militants from IS before travelling to Turkey, and that his compatriot who accompanied him on the trip reported the teenager missing to the South Korean embassy on Monday.
According to figures from the US Department of State, more than 16,000 individuals from about 90 countries have traveled to Syria and joined IS since 2012, with the Turkish border proving the most popular point of entry into the country, wide swathes of which are under IS control.
