A South Korean joint government response team has arrived in Phnom Penh to address the growing job scam crisis involving the abduction and confinement of South Korean nationals, Yonhap News Agency reported.
The delegation is led by Second Vice Foreign Minister Kim Ji-na, accompanied by officials from the National Police Agency, the Ministry of Justice, and the National Intelligence Service.
The team plans to meet with senior Cambodian authorities to discuss the worsening scam situation, in which many South Koreans have been victimized. The agenda includes ways to coordinate investigations into the torture and death of a South Korean college student.
The team is also seeking to arrange the repatriation of 61 South Koreans currently detained by Cambodian immigration authorities for their suspected involvement in organized crime, potentially via a special flight.
"We are preparing detailed procedures," Kim told reporters upon arrival at the airport. "Nothing has been finalized yet."
Yonhap reported that the number of detained South Koreans had been revised from 63, as two individuals were repatriated by plane on Tuesday.
South Korean police have already booked the detainees in connection with the job scams, and Seoul is pushing for their swift return so they can be held accountable under South Korean criminal law.
South Korea's top security adviser, Wi Sung-lac, said on Tuesday that the government aims to bring them home by the end of this week.
Speaking to the press at the airport, Kim also pledged active cooperation with Vietnamese and Cambodian authorities in investigating the death of a South Korean woman whose body was found near the border between the two Southeast Asian countries.
The woman, believed to be in her 30s, was discovered in Vietnam last week. Authorities suspect a possible link to a phishing scam based in Cambodia.
Meanwhile, a senior official at Cambodia’s Interior Ministry said Wednesday that his ministry would cooperate with South Korea over the death of a South Korean student who was allegedly kidnapped and tortured by a criminal gang in Cambodia.
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 traveling to Cambodia for an exhibition in July. Shortly after arriving, he was kidnapped by a gang that demanded a $35,000 ransom.
Cambodia’s National Police said Monday that three Chinese nationals—Li Xingpeng (35), Zhu Renzhe (43), and Liu Haoxing (29)—have been charged with murder and online fraud. Police are still searching for two other Chinese suspects believed to be involved in the killing.
According to the Associated Press, Touch Sokhak, a spokesperson for Cambodia’s Interior Ministry, said the government will work with South Korea to prevent crimes such as scams and online gambling.
He noted that at least 80 South Koreans have recently been rescued and placed under police protection following a crackdown on cyber scam operations.
Last week, Cambodian authorities also arrested 80 suspects of seven different nationalities—most of them Chinese—in a raid on a large-scale online fraud ring operating out of an office complex in Phnom Penh.
Interior Minister Sar Sokha stated earlier this month that at least 15,000 foreigners involved in online crimes have been deported from Cambodia over the past two years.
