(MENAFN- The Peninsula) A South Korean has gone missing in Turkey near the border with Syria, a foreign ministry official said Saturday, following reports that the man had joined the Islamic State militant group.

"The man disappeared on January 10 after he left a hotel" in the southern Turkish town of Kilis near the border with Syria, the official told AFP.

Turkish newspaper Milliyet earlier reported that the unidentified man, aged 18, had crossed into Syria and joined IS.

"We dispatched officials from our embassy on Tuesday and since then they have been searching for him, together with Turkish police," the official said, while declining to give further details.

Milliyet said the teenager exchanged emails with IS militants before he entered Turkey.

He had been accompanied by another South Korean man, who reported the disappearance to the South Korean embassy on Monday, Seoul's Yonhap news agency said.