Seoul, Dec 21 26 South Korean nationals were apprehended during a joint police crackdown at a scam centre in a Cambodia-Vietnam border town last week, with one Korean freed from confinement, police said Sunday.
A joint team of South Korea and Cambodia on Thursday raided the site located in the province of Mondulkiri, eastern Cambodia, near the Vietnamese border, and took the 26 South Koreans into custody for suspected involvement in scam operations, according to the National Police Agency (NPA), Yonhap News Agency reported.
The operation also led to the rescue of a man in his 20s who had been confined and tortured at the site.
The raid involved 40 Cambodian police officers and four South Korean officers, the NPA said.
The move comes as South Korea has been ramping up efforts to combat crimes targeting South Koreans in Cambodia, such as online scams, following the torture and death of a Korean college student lured to a scam center in the Southeast Asian country in August.
The Seoul-Phnom Penh joint team has apprehended 92 scam suspects and rescued two Korean victims so far this month.
"Through close cooperation between the two countries' police authorities, we will intensify the crackdown on online scams and voice phishing crimes," an NPA official said.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung also praised the officers involved in the operation and pledged stronger international cooperation to eradicate such crimes.
"I appreciate their dedication to completing their mission despite the dangerous and harsh conditions in unfamiliar territory," Lee said in a post on X.
"We will further strengthen cooperation with law enforcement agencies worldwide to eradicate international organised crime, including online scams and voice phishing," he added.
On Friday, the South Korean presidential office said South Korea has repatriated 107 nationals suspected of involvement in online scam crimes in Cambodia since October, as part of a sweeping crackdown launched following the death of a Korean student in the Southeast Asian nation.
The pan-government campaign began in October to curb a surge in scam crimes targeting Koreans, after President Lee Jae Myung ordered the launch of a special response team to work with the Cambodian authorities to track down suspects, arrest them and bring them back to South Korea.
As of November, the cumulative number of Korean suspects arrested in Cambodia, including those still awaiting repatriation, stood at 154, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung told reporters
The crackdown has also led to a sharp decline in reports of Koreans confined or going missing in Cambodia, with the number falling from 93 cases in October to just 17 in November, Kang said.
The government pledged to continue taking a tough stance on transnational crimes that threaten the safety of Koreans abroad.
“The government will continue to take stern, firm action against transnational crimes that endanger the lives and security of our citizens,” Kang said.
During a pan-government meeting in late October, Lee ordered the establishment of a special response headquarters involving the foreign and justice ministries, intelligence agencies and the police. A dedicated police unit was also set up in Cambodia to deal specifically with crimes involving Korean nationals in the country.
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