Korea had long been considered free of terrorist attacks, until recently, when security threats against Koreans at home and abroad, like the bomb hoax at Incheon airport and various armed attacks in Southeast Asia have put law enforcement officials on alert.

According to experts, the rise of the extremist group Islamic State (IS) in the region exposes Koreans living or traveling there to terrorist attacks.

Mustafa Alani, a senior advisor at the Gulf Research Institute in Saudi Arabia, said the recent attacks in various parts of the world may stem from the uncontrolled anger of some minorities who felt they were discriminated against by their society.

… A recent media report about the possible establishment of an IS branch in Southeast Asia suggests the terrorist group’s growing influence in the region. In an op-ed piece for The Strait Times published in January, Rohan Gunaratna, a professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, wrote that IS was looking to establish a foothold in Southeast Asia and mentioned the Philippines and Indonesia as possible locations.