An 18-year-old college student was sentenced to prison on Tuesday after pledging allegiance to the extremist militant group ISIS while still in high school and developing a bomb attack plan, court officials said.
The Cheongju District Court handed down an indeterminate prison term of one to one-and-a-half years, finding the student guilty of violating South Korea’s Terrorism Prevention Act for the Protection of Citizens and Public Safety.
According to the court, the student, identified only as “A”, accessed encrypted online platforms operated by ISIS-affiliated groups thousands of times between November 2024 and February 2026, watching and collecting propaganda materials including beheading videos. He subsequently swore allegiance to ISIS and attempted to join the organisation as a foreign fighter.
Investigators said A went further than consuming content; he allegedly requested and received bomb-making instructions from an ISIS contact, then drafted a bomb terror plan targeting government forces in Mozambique, and asked ISIS to evaluate his attack scheme.
Presiding Judge Choi Ji-heon of the court’s Criminal Division 4 said the defendant’s actions showed clear intent.
“The defendant did not stop at repeatedly viewing and collecting ISIS propaganda materials but also expressed intent to join the group and pledged allegiance. He requested and received materials related to explosives and even asked for an evaluation of his own bomb terror strategy.”
The court added:
“Given the proactive, repetitive, and sustained nature of the acts, it is difficult to view them as impulsive or accidental without a concrete plan. However, the defendant’s status as a minor, lack of prior criminal history, and potential for rehabilitation were considered as mitigating factors.”
A’s defence lawyer urged leniency, arguing that while there were preparatory acts to join ISIS, the plan was not concrete, and that since entering college earlier this year the defendant had cut ties with Islamic beliefs and was focusing on his studies.
In his final statement, A said:
“While under detention, I realized how much trouble I caused to society. I will contribute to society in the future.”
Prosecutors had earlier called for a harsher sentence, one to two years, citing the seriousness of acquiring explosive manufacturing methods from a terrorist group, even though A was a juvenile offender.
Court documents note that A first became interested in ISIS after encountering a beheading video in 2022 while in middle school, after which he exchanged information with ISIS supporters via social media and online chat rooms and attempted to join the organisation.
