'Their country is under attack': Charlie Kirk comments on Korea days before assassination

Charlie Kirk, a 31-year-old U.S. conservative youth activist, visited Korea just days before he was shot dead last Wednesday. At the time, Kirk was attending the far-right “Build Up Korea 2025” forum.

Charlie Kirk speaks before he is shot during Turning Point's visit to Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, Sept. 10. [AP/YONHAP]

Charlie Kirk, a 31-year-old U.S. conservative youth activist, visited Korea just days before he was shot dead last Wednesday. At the time, Kirk was attending the far-right “Build Up Korea 2025” forum.

“I didn’t even have to think about where I was going because anywhere I went I knew it would be perfectly clean and safe,” he said at the forum, which was held on Sept. 5 and 6. “A lot of American cities are not like that.”

The forum describes itself as "the largest youth conservative grassroots movement in Korea" that educates "the younger generation of Koreans and Korean Americans on the value of freedom to help them become the next leaders of the world, equipping them with the right biblical worldview and perspectives on politics, economics, culture and more."

Kirk visited Korea and Japan last week to meet with conservative organizations, just days before he was killed in a shooting last Wednesday, according to the Washington Post and other outlets on Saturday.

In a podcast released on Sept. 8, two days before his death, he praised Korea's cleanliness and order. Walking the streets of Seoul, he said that no one begs for money on the streets and that graffiti is not tolerated.

“Their country is totally under attack,” Kirk said of Korea. “The same things that we have been fighting for here, whether it be lawfare in South Korea or mass migration in Japan — this is a worldwide phenomenon.”

“They have high-trust society is what they have,” said Kirk, proceeding to show a video of him in Seoul. “I am here in Seoul, South Korea. As you can see, everyone has these inflatable cushy chairs, everyone is reading and this will last about 35 seconds in most American cities. You can have nice stuff. Crime is a choice. You shouldn’t put up with it.”

The national headquarters of Turning Point USA is seen after the shooting of Charlie Kirk, the 31-year-old CEO and co-founder of the organization, during a Utah college event on Sept. 10, in Phoenix. [AP/YONHAP]

Adding that this video bothered “the left,” Kirk said that the conditions he praised in the video were not due to lack of “gun crimes” but because “they have a high-trust society, and they don’t put up with homeless people and they don’t put up with crime.”

“They have community, they have people that trust each other, they speak the same language,” said Kirk. “It’s not an issue of gun control.”

Kirk was shot and killed while giving a speech at a debate event hosted by the organization last Wednesday at Utah Valley University in Utah. About 3,000 people were in attendance at the time. The FBI posted photos of the suspect on its X account and launched a public manhunt.

Tyler Robinson, aged 22, who allegedly assassinated Kirk, was arrested at his home on Friday. Utah authorities and the FBI held a press conference that day, announcing Robinson's arrest and releasing his photo.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox claimed that Robinson had confessed to the killing to an acquaintance, who then reported it to the local sheriff, leading to the arrest. He added that Robinson had recently become more politically vocal and had told his family that he opposed Kirk’s views.

Trump appeared on Fox News Friday, saying “I’ve never seen young people, or any group, go to one person like they did to Charlie."

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom. BY JANG GU-SEUL, KIM MIN-YOUNG [kim.minyoung5@joongang.co.kr]