South Korean man missing in Turkey near Syrian border

SEOUL – Agence France-Presse

ISIL militants (rear) stand next to an ISIL flag atop a hill in the Syrian town of Ain al-Arab, known as Kobane by the Kurds, as seen from the Turkish-Syrian border, with Turkish troops in foreground, in the southeastern town of Suruç, Şanlıurfa province, on Oct 6, 2014.

A South Korean has gone missing in Turkey near the border with Syria, a foreign ministry official said on Jan. 17, following reports that the man had joined the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militant group.

"The man disappeared on January 10 after he left a hotel" in the southern Turkish town of Kilis near the border with Syria, the official told AFP.

Turkish newspaper Milliyet earlier reported that the unidentified man, aged 18, had crossed into Syria and joined ISIL.

"We dispatched officials from our embassy on Jan. 13 and since then they have been searching for him, together with Turkish police," the official said, while declining to give further details.

Milliyet report said the teenager exchanged emails with ISIL militants before he entered Turkey.

He had been accompanied by another South Korean man, who reported the disappearance to the South Korean embassy on Jan. 12, Seoul's Yonhap news agency said.