80 South Koreans missing in Cambodia scam centre row: Seoul

South Korean national flags flutter in the wind at the government complex in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

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 Tuesday, after the torture death of a student there shocked the country.

Between January and August this year, 330 South Koreans were reported to have gone missing or been held against their will after entering Cambodia, a foreign ministry official said.

As of August, “the safety of about 80 people has yet to be verified”, the official added.

The ministry said it was cross-checking the figures with police data at home to avoid overlap.

The number of abduction cases involving South Koreans in Cambodia has surged dramatically, rising fifteenfold from 2023, lawmaker Yoon Hu-duk said during a parliamentary hearing.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said Tuesday the recent kidnappings in Cambodia were causing “significant harm to South Koreans”, and urged immediate government action.

“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 in a cabinet meeting.

The presidential office said it would dispatch a joint response team to Cambodia on Wednesday, 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”, according to a Cambodian court statement.

Three Chinese nationals were charged with murder and online fraud on August 11 and remain in pre-trial detention, the court said.

Cambodia’s interior ministry said Tuesday the student had arrived in Cambodia in mid-July.

The country’s police are searching for two additional suspects, and are working with South Korea’s embassy to expand the investigation, it added in a statement.

Many victims 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.

Underperforming or noncompliant victims are beaten and tortured.

The joint response team will also seek to repatriate the student’s body and secure the release of South Koreans held by Cambodian authorities over suspected involvement in online fraud.

“Once returned home, the individuals will be investigated for alleged participation in online scam operations and, if the charges are substantiated, will face legal action in accordance with the law,” the presidential office said in a statement.

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.