South Korea’s communications watchdog said Wednesday it is closely monitoring the Internet to catch any terrorism-related material after a Seoul teenager suspected of joining an extremist militant group in Syria was found to have made his connections through social networking services.
The Korea Communication Commission said it has been intensely inspecting online material and will shut down access to content on SNS sites that influence people to carry out terrorist acts or join terrorist groups.
The 18-year-old South Korean, identified only by his surname Kim, disappeared on Jan. 10 during a trip to the southern Turkish town of Kilis. He was last seen leaving the hotel where he was staying.
South Korean investigators said earlier they had found that Kim accessed websites linked to the Islamic State and communicated with a person believed to be a Turkish friend known as “Hassan.”
“Kim, who is assumed to have joined the IS, is presumed to have accessed the related information through SNS,” an official from the KCC said. “We will sort out any illegal content related to terrorism being circulated online.”
South Korea’s communications law stipulates that the government can ban the circulation of any “information, including racism, genocide, terrorism, and others, that can significantly threaten international peace and order.” (Yonhap)
