SEOUL – About 1,000 South Koreans are believed to be working in online scam operations in Cambodia, Seoul said Wednesday, with the country shaken by the torture and killing of a college student.
South Korea will send a special team to the Southeast Asian country later on Wednesday to discuss cases of fake jobs and scam centers involved in kidnapping dozens of its nationals.
“It is believed that around 200,000 people of various nationalities are working in Cambodia’s scam industry, which targets victims worldwide, including in South Korea,” National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac told reporters.
“A considerable number of South Koreans are also thought to be employed there. While the exact figure is difficult to verify, domestic authorities generally estimate the number at around 1,000.”
Seoul has said 63 South Koreans were believed to have been detained by authorities in Cambodia, who were among 80 reported missing. The government was “committed to bringing all South Korean nationals back home”, Wi said. AFP
“We are arranging a flight to bring them home… We aim to complete this by the end of the week,” he said.
Of the 63 detained, there were both “voluntary and involuntary participants” in the scam operations, Wi said.
“Most of them should be regarded as having committed criminal acts” for taking part in the schemes, he said, regardless of their initial intentions.
The South Korean team, headed by the vice foreign minister, will depart on Wednesday evening, said a government official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Some 330 South Koreans had been reported missing or detained against their will in Cambodia between January and August this year, according to Seoul’s foreign ministry, before that number was whittled down to 80. AFP
