Two weeks ago, the 21-year-old bought a one-way ticket to join rebels in Libya, he told United Arab Emirates newspaper the National.

“It is the end of my summer vacation, so I thought it would be cool to join the rebels. This is one of the only real revolutions [in the world],” he said.

According to the paper, Jeon flew one-way from Los Angeles to Cairo, then by train to Alexandria, then by a series of buses to Benghazi, where he hitched a ride with rebels heading west towards the Libya capital of Tripoli. He then trekked 248 miles across the desert landscape to An Nawfaliyah — a rebel outpost where he was interviewed by the National and the Christian Science Monitor.

“How do you fire this thing?” the paper reports him saying when one of the rebels handed him an AK-47.

Why did he only buy a one-way ticket? He said, “If I get captured or something, I don’t want to waste another $800.”

His new name, he said, is “Ahmed El Maghrabi Saidi Barga.” Other than that, he has difficulty communicating with the rebels. “It’s hard to communicate. I don’t really speak any Arabic,” he said. Jeon said his family has no idea he is in Libya.

Today, Al Jazeera English’s Evan Hill tweeted an update on Jeon: Our team in east #Libya said rebels fed up with Chris Jeon, US kid who tried to join, told him 2 go, last seen on pick-up going 2 Benghazi.

A UCLA spokesperson confirmed that Jeon is a student, with an expected graduation year of 2013, but repeatedly declined to say more.

“What we know is what we’re reading in the media. We’re not commenting,” college spokesman Steve Ritea told ABC News.

News reports describe Jeon as a “math major,” although the Los Angeles Times says UCLA lists his major as “Classics.”



