SEOUL – South Korea’s inter-agency team met Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet on Oct 16 to discuss the return of about 60 South Koreans detained in scam-related abductions and to strengthen coordination in addressing job scams and crimes targeting Korean nationals.
The government delegation, led by Second Vice-Foreign Minister Kim Jina, made an urgent visit to Cambodia at the instruction of President Lee Jae Myung.
The trip comes amid growing concern in South Korea over a surge in cases of South Koreans lured by fake job offers and subjected to related crimes, including kidnapping and forced confinement.
According to Seoul’s Foreign Ministry, the delegation – which includes officials from the National Police Agency and the National Intelligence Service – also met senior Cambodian officials from a special committee under the prime minister’s office.
The two sides discussed the rise in scam-linked kidnapping and confinement cases, exchanged information and coordinated joint countermeasures.
The team is handling the repatriation of about 60 South Koreans detained for their alleged involvement in scam operations and stepping up cooperation with Cambodian authorities to locate other South Koreans whose whereabouts remain unconfirmed.
According to data from South Korea’s Foreign Ministry, about 80 cases remain open among reports of South Koreans who entered Cambodia and were later reported missing or forcibly confined.
The ministry received 330 such reports between January and August and 220 cases in 2024, most of which – about 260 in 2025 and 210 in 2024 – have since been resolved.
However, officials warn that the actual number of South Korean victims may be far higher.
Seoul’s National Intelligence Service has estimated that more than 1,000 South Koreans are believed to be staying in scam compounds in Cambodia, though their involvement in criminal activities has not been confirmed.
Meanwhile, the police said Oct 16 they were pushing to establish a “Korean Desk” in Sihanoukville – a port city on the south-eastern coast of Cambodia – where criminal organisations are believed to be highly concentrated.
A Korean Desk is a help desk within a Cambodian police station for South Korean nationals, and such desks are already operating in Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Police are also considering the possibility of dispatching South Korean officers to Cambodia to protect South Korean citizens.
According to police documents provided Oct 16 by Representative Wi Seong-gon of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, the Korean National Police Agency plans to increase the number of police officers stationed at the South Korean Embassy in Cambodia – one police attache and two liaison officers – to eight.
The decision came after assessing that at least five additional officers are required to effectively respond to the recent surge in kidnapping and confinement cases of South Korean citizens in Cambodia.
A separate investigation is also being conducted by the South Korean police over the death of a South Korean woman, who was found dead near the Vietnam-Cambodia border.
The Hyehwa district police station announced Oct 15 that the woman in her 30s was discovered deceased on Oct 8 in southern Vietnam near the Cambodian border.
The local police have conducted an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death, and her body has reportedly been handed over to her family.
Police, who launched a preliminary investigation before a formal case filing, shared that they plan to look into whether the woman might have been connected to the overseas phishing scams that have recently surged in the region. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
