

Seoul beefs up next year's anti-terror budget

By Kang Seung-woo





Police detained an Indonesian man, Wednesday, who they say entered the country on a forged passport and is suspected of having ties to a terrorist group.

The 32-year-old man is under investigation on charges of violating the country's Immigration Law and forging documents, after being apprehended at his home in South Chungcheong Province.

He is suspected of showing support for the al-Nusra Front, a Syrian affiliate of al-Qaeda, via social network service (SNS) accounts over a period of months.

According to police, the man entered Korea in 2007 on a forged passport.

Last month, he took a photo of himself wearing a cap with a logo of the al-Nusra Front at Gyeongbokgung Palace and posted it on his SNS account.

In April, he also uploaded a video clip of him waving the flag of the terrorist group.

According to police, a long knife, a mock M16 rifle, and books about Islamic fundamentalism were found at the time of his detention.

The police said they will continue investigating to establish whether the suspect has accomplices who also sympathize with and support terrorism.

Earlier in the day, Rep. Lee Cheol-woo of the ruling Saenuri Party said 10 Koreans are being probed for openly supporting IS which claimed responsibility for last week's terrorist attacks in Paris, citing the National Intelligence Service. However, their identities were not released.

He also claimed some 50 members of terrorist groups have been deported from Korea in the past five years. Lee belongs to the National Assembly Intelligence Committee.

In January, an 18-year-old Korean reportedly jointed an Islamic extremist group during a trip to Turkey, but the foreign ministry now believes he is dead.

Lee said that two other Koreans also tried to join IS, planning to take Kim's route, but they were prevented from traveling overseas at the airport.

He said after an emergency meeting was held Wednesday morning between the government and the ruling party at the National Assembly, there will be a push to strengthen measures against terrorism.

Rep. Joo Ho-young, another Saenuri Party lawmaker, said in a radio interview that Korea is not safe from terrorist attacks because the nation is an ally of the so-called "crusader campaign."

On Monday, IS vowed to attack Washington and countries taking part in airstrikes in Syria and Iraq. Korea was included on the 62-nation list, according to the foreign ministry.

"So far, six Koreans have been killed and 32 injured by terrorists. In addition, we have deployed about 1,100 troops in 16 troubled areas of the world, so we are not safe from terrorism," Lee said.

"As soon as possible, the National Assembly should pass the pending Anti-Terrorism Bill," he said.

Amid growing concerns over possible attacks in Korea, the government and the ruling camp agreed to increase next year's anti-terrorism budget by 100 billion won.

South Korea faces direct and indirect military threats from North Korea.

Under the agreement, 30 billion won will be spent on better defending against North Korea's biological and chemical weapons programs, an asymmetric threat.

In addition, they agreed to purchase five armed high-speed boats worth 29.6 billion won.

Along with the budget increase, the government plans to revise related legislation to require Korean residents abroad to provide fingerprint information to enter their homeland. Currently, they are exempt from the measure.

Meanwhile, the government has raised its alert level from "concern" to "caution" ― the second-highest in the nation's four-tiered system.

The caution level calls for a stricter management of dangerous substances and tighter security at major facilities.