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Kim first went missing on January 10 after he flew to Turkey on January 8. Kim told his mother that he was visiting a penpal in Turkey named Hassan. He was accompanied by a family friend, 45-year-old Hong. The two traveled to Kilis, a city near the border of Syria.

On January 12, Hong reported Kim was missing to the Korean embassy in Turkey. The Korean government was alarmed by the issue when Turkish newspaper Milliyet soon after reported that a Korean student had illegally entered Syria and joined ISIS.

Korean and Turkish authorities investigated to confirm these claims. After investigating Kim's computer, they found that Kim did seem to support ISIS as his desktop background contained a picture of ISIS members posing in front of their flag. His Twitter, shown in the clip below, also features pictures of the ISIS flag and members. With his online ID sunni mujahideen, Kim even tweeted, "I want to join ISIS," and asked questions how to join ever since October. He also appears to be anti-feminist as he tweeted other things such as, "This is an age where men are sexually discriminated against," and, "I detest feminists. And so, I like ISIS."

Authorities found that someone responded to Kim's tweets, saying, "Go to Turkey," and provided him the contact information for a man named Hassan.

A man who had been captured by ISIS before told CNN back in September that ISIS recruited youngsters from many different countries, including Korea. He told CNN, "There are many nationalities. From Norway, from America, Canada, Somalia, Korea, China, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Lebanon and other European countries like Germany and France."

Despite confirming that Kim is attempting to join ISIS, authorities have yet to confirm whether Kim crossed the border into Syria. Although family friend Hong returned from Turkey on January 17, he refused to cooperate with questioning to aid the search.

Hong and the hotel staff members gave contradicting testimonies on Kim's disappearance. While Hong claimed Kim was taken while they were dining out, a hotel staff member in Kilis said that Kim left the hotel on January 10 on his own, wearing a white mask and carrying a backpack. According to the staff, Hong also refused their recommendation to report Kim missing to the police and chose to report to the Korean embassy instead two days later.  

In the Korean media's latest updates, Kim's whereabouts have been captured on CCTV. On January 10, Kim met a man who drove a car containing a Syrian license plate. Authorities believe that they drove to the province of Besiri, got off at a refugee camp, and traveled as far as the border. It has yet to be confirmed if they managed to enter Syria.