College student jailed for attempting to join ISIS

A 18-year-old college student from Cheongju was sentenced to an indeterminate prison term of one to 1 1/2 years by the Cheongju District Court on Tuesday. The student was found guilty of violating the anti-terrorism law after pledging allegiance to ISIS while in high school. The court found that he attempted to join the extremist group after watching propaganda materials on an encrypted online platform operated by an ISIS-affiliated group between November 2024 and February 2025.

He was also suspected of obtaining bomb-making instructions from an ISIS contact, forming a bomb attack scheme against Mozambique's government forces, and requesting an ISIS evaluation for his attack plan.

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