Pastor who accompanied missing 17-year-old bound for ISIS explains his side of the story

On January 22, 45-year-old Hong, who accompanied the currently missing 17-year-old Kim to Turkey, shared his side of the story.

Kim is a teenager believed to have run off to Syria to join the violent terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Hong accompanied Kim to Kilis, Turkey, a city near the border of Syria, prior to his disappearance.

Hong is a pastor who knew Kim's family through church. As Hong was reported to have been uncooperative during investigations and contradictory during testimonies, some suspected Hong to be involved in Kim's plan to join ISIS. Hong, however, explained that he had no part in Kim's escape to ISIS and that he was dumbfounded by the events that occurred.

According to Hong, Kim had been planning a trip to Turkey for a while. Kim told Hong that he had been planning for this trip for three months and that he would go no matter what, even if it meant he had to go alone. As a middle school dropout, Kim also promised that after he returned from Turkey, he would take the General Education Development (GED) exam to receive his diploma and start a new kind of life.

According to Hong, Kim never mentioned ISIS to him, but insisted on going to Kilis when they arrived in Istanbul, Turkey together. Accused of behaving suspiciously after Kim disappeared on January 10 and only reporting the incident to the Korean embassy two days later, Hong clarified, "I didn't know in what way the child had disappeared. At first I couldn't contact the Korean embassy and I reported him missing to the police, but it was no use. I went to park terminals and wandered around unaware of how dangerous it was to look for him."

He added, "I only followed Kim to Kilis because he wanted to go; I didn't know that Kilis was at the Syria border. I had difficulty asking for buses to go there for Kim."

Hong then revealed that he went out of his way to accompany Kim to Turkey because he believed that Kim was suicidal and that the trip would be good for him. He said, "I accompanied a kid who was scarred and said he was going to kill himself."

In other news, authorities have found that Kim was able to contact an ISIS member Hassan after posting on Twitter that he wanted to desperately join. A Twitter user responded to Kim's tweets with information on how to contact Hassan. Kim then proceeded to speak with Hassan via surespot, an encrypted chat messenger.

Furthermore, Kim's computer contains internet bookmarks for 65 websites related to Turkey and ISIS and around 50 pictures of ISIS soldiers holding guns and Muslim women. Kim also told two friends on Facebook that he wanted to join ISIS and many of his internet searches were related to ISIS, Turkey, Syria, and Islam.

Although Kim is the first known Korean teenager joining ISIS, hundreds of young people around the world are believed to have run away to Syria to join the violent group as well. Rezla Aslan, an Iranian-American religious scholar, commented that young people who wanted to join ISIS are usually "dispossessed or marginalized. They feel somewhat they're having a crisis of identity."

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