SEOUL, Oct 14 — Eighty South Koreans who were possible victims of fake jobs or scam centres were unaccounted for in Cambodia, South Korea’s foreign ministry told AFP today, after the torture death of a student there shocked the public.
A foreign ministry official said that between January and August this year, 330 South Koreans were reported to have gone missing or been held against their will after entering Cambodia.
As of August, “the safety of about 80 people has yet to be verified,” the official said.
The ministry added it was cross-checking the figures with police data at home to avoid overlap.
While there were around 21 cases of abduction involving South Koreans in Cambodia in 2023, the figure surged fifteenfold as of August this year, lawmaker Yoon Hu-duk said in a parliamentary hearing.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said today the recent kidnappings in Cambodia were causing “significant harm to South Koreans”.
“The numbers are not small, and many of our citizens are deeply concerned about their family members, friends, and neighbours who have been detained in Cambodia,” Lee said during a cabinet meeting.
“The government should immediately implement all available measures to ensure the safety of our citizens,” he added.
The presidential office said it would dispatch a joint response team to Cambodia tomorrow, led by the second vice foreign minister.
Presidential spokesperson Kim Nam-joon said the government was also considering raising the travel advisory level for Cambodia.
‘Severe torture’
The recent death of a Korean college student in Cambodia — reportedly kidnapped and tortured by a local crime ring — has shocked South Korea.
Police investigations and an autopsy showed the student, whose body was found in a pickup truck early on August 8, “died as a result of severe torture, with multiple bruises and injuries across his body”, a Cambodian court statement said.
Three suspects — all Chinese nationals — were charged with murder and online fraud on August 11 and were being held in pre-trial detention, the court said.
Cambodia’s interior ministry said today the student had arrived in Cambodia in mid-July.
Police were looking for two additional suspects who remain at large, and expanding their investigation in cooperation with South Korea’s embassy, it added.
Many of the South Koreans are said to have been lured by fraudulent job offers promising high pay, according to the South Korean government.
Once held captive, the victims are forced to be part of online fraud, romance scams and “pig butchering” investment cons.
If they are noncompliant or show poor performance, the victims are beaten and tortured.
According to Amnesty International, abuses in Cambodia’s scam centres are happening on a “mass scale”, and there are at least 53 scam compounds in the country where organised criminal groups carry out human trafficking, forced labour, torture, deprivation of liberty and slavery. — AFP
