The Thai Immigration Bureau refuted reports in two South Korean media outlets today, in The Korea Herald and The Korea Economic Daily, claiming that 11 South Koreans had been abducted in Thailand.
Pol Maj-Gen Cherngron Rimphadee, deputy commissioner of the Immigration Bureau, said that they had carefully checked the information about the 11 South Koreans and found that five of them had left Thailand and two were deported back to South Korea.
He said one of the deportees, 30-year-old Kim Gyeonghyeon, entered Thailand, via the border checkpoint in Ban Klong Luek in Aranyaprathet in Sa Kaeo province, from Cambodia on May 31st. He was found to be a member of a call centre network in Cambodia, blacklisted and deported to South Korea on July 1st.
The second deported South Korean, 34-year-old Noh Kidong, entered Thailand via Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi international airport on April 12th and was deported on August 12th for overstaying his visa.
Pol Maj-Gen Cherngron said he has notified the South Korean Embassy in Bangkok about the 11 South Koreans, who were incorrectly reported to have been kidnapped in Thailand.
He also said he has instructed immigration police at all airports to warn non-Thai passengers, who visit Thailand alone on the free visa scheme for the first time and do not have clear itinerary, to be aware that they may be targeted with fake job offers in neighboring countries.
