January 30, 2015 1:00 pm JST
South Korea's extremist concerns
Islamic State group draws increased interest from youth
TOKYO -- The Islamic State group in the Middle East is drawing increased attention in South Korea amid the prolonged hostage crisis involving two Japanese nationals.
The extremist group gained much public attention in South Korea after the disappearance of a young South Korean man just before the hostage crisis involving two Japanese nationals. According to South Korean media, an 18-year-old South Korean man, identified by authorities only as Kim, traveled to Turkey and went missing near the Syrian border in mid-January.
An analysis of his computer and other devices in his home revealed that Kim frequently accessed sites related to the Islamic State Group, which now controls vast swaths of territory across Syria and Iraq.
He is believed to have contacted people related to the group through social media to inquire about how to join.
After Kim's disappearance was revealed, many young South Koreans tried to contact the extremist group. This prompted the Korea Communications Standards Commission, the country's communications watchdog, to block access to online postings related to the group, such as fighter recruitment.
Kim reportedly dropped out of his middle school and secluded himself in his house before he left for Turkey. While still in South Korea, he is reported to have written on his Facebook page, "I want to live a new life away from this nation and my family."
Following media reports of Kim's Facebook remark, many South Korean parents are reported to have posted online messages expressing concerns that their children, now shutting themselves away in their rooms, might also be lured to the Middle East.
Many South Korean youths feel anxiety and stress because despite working hard they cannot realize happiness. They often attend cram schools until late at night from an early age and experience intense competition for entrance into schools and universities. Even if they successfully enter prestigious universities, there is no guarantee that they will be able to find jobs at companies of their choice.
Many employees at large companies in South Korea also worry about being pushed into early retirement, a practice known as "honorable retirement," which often happens in their late 30s.
A growing number of young South Koreans are spending a lot of time on social media and gaming in a bid to escape reality, often becoming addicted to the Internet and posing serious new social problems to the nation. One South Korean even took leave from his job for a few years to move abroad for treatment of his son's Internet addiction in an Internet-free environment.
Referring to youths fascinated by the Islamic State group, a column published recently in Chosun Ilbo, a major South Korean newspaper, questioned whether the country has formed a "healthy society" in which people are not swayed by radical ideas.
25,000 South Koreans in Mideast
A sense of stagnation also has something to do with the penchant of South Korean youth for going abroad. According to a 2013 survey by South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there were some 7.01 million South Korean nationals living abroad, a disproportionately high number given the country's population of approximately 50 million.
Of the South Korean nationals living overseas, some 25,000 are in the Middle East. The figure may look small, but it has jumped almost fourfold in just six years, from some 6,400 in 2007.
Needless to say, the disproportionately high number of South Korean nationals living abroad is a result of aggressive foreign direct investment by local companies.
South Korean companies have been particularly active about investing in infrastructure development, the petrochemical industry and other sectors in the Middle East, resulting in increased numbers of expatriate employees from the country in the region.
The growing number of South Korean expatriate employees has been accompanied by an increase in the number of South Koreans moving abroad to run Korean restaurants, cleaning and other services to cater for Korean customers.
According to JoongAng Ilbo, a total of 65 South Korean nationals were victims in abduction cases in the Middle East, including some African countries, over a period of 11 years from 2003 to February 2014.
In one example, a man was killed by Islamic militants in Iraq in 2004, while 23 Christian volunteers were abducted in Afghanistan in 2007, with two of them being killed.
Each time this kind of incident happened, it received extensive coverage in the South Korean media, leaving many in the nation concerned about the safety of their compatriots living abroad.
A reporter working for a South Korean media organization said many people in the country are not able to feel that the latest hostage situation involving two Japanese is completely separate from themselves because of similar incidents in their country's recent past. The reporter added that the South Korean public is paying close attention to how the Japanese government deals with the hostage crisis.
Masanori Yamakuchi is a former Nikkei Seoul bureau chief.
http://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/International-Relations/Islamic-State-group-draws-increased-interest-from-youth
