South Korean student jailed for pledging allegiance to ISIS

A South Korean college student was sentenced to prison Tuesday, September 29, for pledging allegiance to the extremist militant group ISIS while he was still in high school, officials said.

The Cheongju District Court sentenced the 18-year-old man to an indeterminate prison term of between one and one-and-a-half years after finding him guilty of violating the country’s anti-terrorism law.

The student, whose identity was withheld, was charged with attempting to join ISIS after accessing various propaganda materials on an encrypted online platform operated by an ISIS-affiliated group between November 2024 and February 2026. He also swore allegiance to the group.

According to court officials, the student was additionally suspected of obtaining bomb-making instructions from an ISIS contact, devising a plan to carry out a bomb attack against government forces in Mozambique, and requesting an ISIS assessment of his proposed attack plan.

By Tamilla Hasanova