hankyoreh

A 18-year-old South Korean surnamed Kim who went missing near the Syrian border in Turkey traveled by taxi to the vicinity of a Syrian refugee camp with a local man on Jan. 10, the date of his disappearance.

“Kim left his hotel wearing a backpack at around 8 am on Jan. 10 and waited for a few minutes in front of a mosque across from the hotel before meeting a man at 8:25,” explained a senior official with the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, citing CCTV footage obtained by Turkish police from the area around the hotel.

The man beckoned to Kim, and at around 8:30 the two of them boarded a black Carnival with Syrian license plates. The vehicle then traveled to the area near a Syrian refugee camp in the village of Besiriye about 25 minutes (18 km) east of the town of Kilis, where Kim and the man disembarked. Besiriye is located about five kilometers from the Syrian border and has no border checkpoint.

It was not clear if the man accompanying Kim was Arab or Turkish, and the vehicle they boarded was an illegal taxi operated by a Syrian, the ministry official said. Because of the darkness, it was difficult to identify the older man’s physical details from the CCTV footage. Kim and the man did not speak while inside the taxi, perhaps to avoid identifying themselves.

Officials remain unclear on Kim’s whereabouts after exiting the car near the refugee camp.

“There is still no record of him crossing the border, and he does not seem to have to have gone into the camp,” the official said, adding, “His whereabouts are still a mystery.”

The official went on to say there was “no concrete evidence” to suggest Kim may have crossed into Syria to aid the terrorist group Islamic State (ISIS), but added, “Anything is possible at this point.”

On Tuesday, officials found a Twitter account used by Kim, where he asked how to join ISIS. The account included a message from Kim, written in English, where he said, “I hate feminist [sic]. So I like the isis [sic].”

Officials visited Kim’s parents also on Tuesday, and say they will announce the results of their investigation on Jan. 21.

By Yi Yong-in and Oh Seung-hoon, staff reporters

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