A South Korean government response team has arrived in Phnom Penh to address the growing job scam crisis involving the abduction and confinement of South Korean nationals in Cambodia, Yonhap News Agency reported on Thursday.
About 80 South Koreans remain missing in Cambodia amid growing concerns about possible links to organised crime and human trafficking, according to Korean authorities.
President Lee Jae-myung on Tuesday authorised the National Intelligence Service and special task force officials to travel to Cambodia to assist in locating and repatriating the missing citizens.
The move followed the death of a South Korean student in Cambodia, which local reports said was connected to human trafficking and forced labour networks. The incident has heightened diplomatic tensions between Seoul and Phnom Penh.
The body of 22-year-old Park Min-ho was found in August inside a pickup truck near Bokor Mountain in southern Kampot province. Authorities confirmed that he died of cardiac arrest after being tortured and beaten.
According to South Korean media, the student had told his family he was travelling to Cambodia for an exhibition. Shortly after arriving, he was kidnapped by a gang that demanded a $35,000 ransom.
Cambodia’s National Police said this week that three Chinese nationals have been charged with murder and online fraud. Police are still searching for two other Chinese suspects.
According to the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 80 nationals in Cambodia have not yet been confirmed safe.
The case of Park Min-ho has exposed an explosion of kidnappings involving Koreans in Cambodia. Reported cases jumped from 17 in 2023 to 220 last year, with 330 recorded by August this year, according to data the foreign ministry provided to parliament.
The government on Tuesday issued a Level 4 “Do Not Travel” advisory — its highest warning — for specific Cambodian areas including Bokor Mountain, Bavet and Poipet, effective from Oct 16.
The foreign ministry in Seoul added that roughly 1,000 South Koreans are believed to be connected to scam centres in Cambodia, with 61 currently detained by Cambodian authorities for investigation. Officials clarified that some of those detained may have joined the scam operations voluntarily.
Cambodian immigration authorities said that about 80 South Koreans are currently under their supervision but not formally detained. They have not confirmed whether these individuals are part of the same group reported missing by Seoul.
The human rights group Amnesty International estimates there are between 50 and 53 scam compounds across Cambodia involved in human trafficking, forced labour and illegal detention.
The United States and the United Kingdom this week sanctioned the Prince Group, headed by Chinese-Cambodian tycoon Chen Zhi, for alleged involvement in money laundering and large-scale online fraud schemes.
In an indication of the scale of the illegal operations, US authorities seized $14 billion worth of bitcoin from the Prince Group, which they said would be the largest financial seizure ever made if all the cryptocurrency can be recovered.
The South Korean government said it would continue cooperating with regional and international partners to protect its citizens and investigate transnational crime networks in Southeast Asia.
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