October 13, 2025
SEOUL – South Korea has pledged stronger measures to protect its citizens in Cambodia amid a surge in reported abductions and forced labor cases, including the recent death of a 22-year-old Korean student who was tortured after being lured by a fake job offer.
Seoul and Phnom Penh police are set for high-level talks to discuss the rise in crimes against Koreans in Cambodia, as part of a broader effort to strengthen cross-border law enforcement cooperation.
The Korean National Police Agency said in a statement Sunday that its acting Chief Yoo Jae-seong would hold a bilateral meeting with Cambodia’s high-ranking police officials on Oct. 23 in Seoul, on the sidelines of the upcoming International Police Summit.
In the meeting, Yoo plans to urge “stronger countermeasures” to curb the rise in crimes targeted at Korean nationals.
The agency added that the Yoo would also discuss the Korean police’s proposal to set up a “Korean Desk” — a help desk within a Cambodian police station for Korean nationals — and the possible dispatch of Korean police officers to Cambodia.
The announcement follows President Lee Jae Myung’s order to “go all out in terms of diplomacy to safeguard South Koreans from crimes in Cambodia.”
According to the presidential office on Saturday night, the Foreign Ministry sought the Cambodian government’s cooperation and is poised to “take additional measures if necessary,” without elaborating.
The government had earlier imposed a special travel advisory on Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, effective at 9 p.m. Friday, in line with its western regions, urging people to postpone or cancel travel plans.
The Foreign Ministry in Seoul also urged South Koreans not to be duped into fake job advertisements from Cambodia that promise unrealistically high-paying jobs, as victims have fallen prey to abduction, where they are held for ransom or forced to take part in scams.
In the latest incident, two South Koreans were discovered in Sihanoukville in southwestern Cambodia and rescued by the local police in early October. The victims reported being threatened, beaten and forced to take part in a scamming operation.
Rep. Park Chan-dae, a three-term lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, said on his Facebook page Saturday that two Korean nationals were rescued from Cambodia thanks to a joint effort by the victims’ family, the government and his office.
Park also said his office had played a role in rescuing 14 Korean nationals from Cambodia near the Cambodian city of Kampot in August, where a body discovered during the rescue operation was later identified as a Korean student surnamed Park.
The police and the National Forensic Service are jointly consulting with Cambodian authorities on the possibility of conducting a joint autopsy, in order to promptly repatriate Park’s body and transfer it to the bereaved family, according to police Sunday.
The victim was found dead in August, about a month after he flew to Cambodia and was abducted and held for ransom. The cause of death was identified as cardiac arrest following torture.
The KNPA additionally disclosed that it is pushing for a visit by Park Sung-joo, chief of the National Office of Investigation, to Cambodia to inspect the local situation and discuss ways to strengthen investigative cooperation at the earliest possible date.
Describing the Cambodian authorities’ stance that a photo or a video of the victim being held against their will must be presented to initiate rescue operations as “senseless,” Park said Sunday he would call for a state-level response during the Assembly audit this month.
Earlier Saturday, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the principle appears to have taken root among local authorities, as there were cases where victims inside scamming compounds wished to remain there and denied being held against their will.
The ministry added that the government has asked Cambodian authorities to initiate rescue operations with minimal requirements, such as the victims’ basic personal information and the locations where they are believed to be held.
According to Rep. Kim Gunn of the main opposition People Power Party, the government received 330 reports of Koreans being abducted in Cambodia from January to August, up from 220 such reports in 2024. The figures are sharply up from two abduction reports in 2021, 11 in 2022 and 21 in 2023.
As of June, Amnesty International estimated that there were at least 53 scamming compounds in Cambodia. It claimed that the Cambodian authorities have failed to crack down on such facilities and subsequently allowed those compounds to continue operating.
Nearly 200,000 South Koreans traveled to Cambodia in 2024, according to the government, and some 10,000 South Koreans are estimated to live there.
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