Cambodia sentences six men for murder of South Korean student linked to scam centre
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PHNOM PENH – A Cambodian court has convicted and sentenced six Chinese nationals to life in prison on charges that they tortured and murdered a South Korean student involved with one of Cambodia’s notorious scam centres, a court spokesperson said on May 27.
The student’s death in August 2025 sparked off a diplomatic firestorm with Seoul, which issued travel bans for parts of Cambodia, imposed sanctions and launched joint efforts to crack down on the sprawling centres, which have been accused of enslaving and abusing workers and stealing billions of dollars from scam victims around the world.
The Kampot Provincial Court found all six men guilty of torture, murder and aggravated fraud, the spokesperson said in a statement.
According to an autopsy report released by the Korean authorities in November, the 22-year-old victim died from blunt force trauma after beatings and torture.
China has urged its citizens abroad to comply with local laws and regulations, its Foreign Ministry said at a regular news briefing on May 28 when asked about the conviction.
“We are also willing to strengthen law enforcement cooperation with all parties to jointly combat telecom fraud and various other cross-border criminal activities,” ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.
South-east Asia has emerged in recent years as an epicentre of the global cyberfraud industry.
Compounds, mostly run by Chinese criminal gangs and staffed partly by trafficking victims living in brutal conditions, have proliferated across Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines and lawless areas of the Myanmar-Thai border.
Many of these countries have been pressured to crack down by foreign governments like the US, which estimates that Americans lost US$10 billion (S$12.8 billion) to South-east Asian scam centres in 2024.
Cambodia has extradited to China a number of senior individuals accused of leading scam syndicates.
The UN estimates that hundreds of thousands of people have worked in the centres, some lured by the promise of a well-paid jobs, but many forced to do so under threats of violence. REUTERS
