Talks still under way on plan to repatriate 59 South Koreans detained in Cambodia: Seoul

Phnom Penh, Oct 17 South Korea is still in talks with Cambodia to finalize plans to repatriate 59 nationals detained over online job scams, a joint response team said Friday, after Cambodian police announced they would be deported this week.

The response team, currently in Phnom Penh to address the crime targeting South Korean citizens, said in a message to the media that talks were still ongoing with Cambodian officials to finalize details of the repatriation plan, apparently dismissing Cambodia's earlier announcement, Yonhap News Agency reported.

"We have some technical and administrative issues to work out," the team said. "It is difficult to announce the schedule of their departure at this stage."

Cambodian police said Thursday the 59 Koreans in custody will be deported to South Korea on Friday. The individuals include those who were rescued from online scam operations or arrested for suspected involvement in the crime.

"The two sides are working closely to ensure an early repatriation (of the Koreans)," the team added.

Four South Koreans out of 63 detained were sent back home by plane earlier this week.

Seoul said earlier it aims to bring the detained people back home by the end of this week.

Senior Superintendent General Park Sung-joo, head of the National Office of Investigation, was set to meet with Cambodia's police chief to discuss the online scams later in the day. Second Vice Foreign Minister Kim Jina is scheduled to meet with the Cambodian interior minister.

Earlier on Wednesday, the South Korean foreign ministry said that it launched a task force at its Embassy in Cambodia as part of efforts to respond to the widening job scam crisis involving the trafficking and torture of Korean nationals.

Park Il, former ambassador to Lebanon, will work as the de facto head of the mission in Phnom Penh to oversee affairs related to the job scams, engage closely with Cambodian authorities and seek their cooperation to resolve the issue, the ministry said in a release.

The ambassador post in Cambodia has remained vacant since the launch of the Lee Jae Myung government, and the absence has been cited by critics as a reason contributing to what they call the government's lax responses.

Park will assume the role until a new ambassador is formally appointed, the ministry said.

The task force also consists of officials from the ministry's consular affairs, development cooperation and Association of Southeast Asian Nations bureaus.

Park, who previously served in Lebanon, successfully led an evacuation operation that brought 97 South Korean nationals and their family members back home amid the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in October last year.

The task force launch came as Seoul is making all-out efforts to tackle the crimes targeting its nationals in Cambodia, following public shock over the brutal torture death of a South Korean college student.

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