South Korea bars travel to parts of Cambodia, says 1,000 Koreans working in scam centres

SEOUL - South Korea, shaken by the torture and killing of a college student in Cambodia, imposed travel bans on Oct 15 to parts of the country.

“The Bokor Mountain area in Kampot Province, Bavet City and Poipet City are designated as travel ban zones,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“South Korean nationals visiting or staying in those areas may be subject to penalties under the Passport Act and other relevant regulations. Citizens planning to travel to such areas are therefore strongly advised to cancel their trips,” it said.

About 1,000 South Koreans are believed to be working in online scam operations in Cambodia, National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac said earlier on Oct 15.

South Korea will send a special team to the South-east Asian country to discuss cases of fake jobs and scam centres 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,” he 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 the authorities in Cambodia, who were among

80 reported missing

.

The government was “committed to bringing all South Korean nationals back home”, Mr Wi said.

“We are arranging a flight to bring them home... We aim to complete this by the end of the week.”

Of the 63 detained, there were both “voluntary and involuntary participants” in the scam operations, Mr 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, which is headed by the vice-foreign minister, was set to depart on the evening of Oct 15, said a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Tortured to death

Some 330 South Koreans had been reported missing or detained against their will in Cambodia between January and August 2025, according to Seoul’s Foreign Ministry, before that number was whittled down to 80.

The government plans to “make every diplomatic effort to secure Cambodia’s cooperation”, the presidential office said.

The response team being sent to Cambodia includes officials from the police and South Korea’s spy agency, it said.

As well as repatriation discussions, police would also conduct a joint investigation into the

recent death of a South Korean college student

in Cambodia, the presidential office said.

The death of the student in Cambodia, who was reportedly kidnapped and tortured by a crime ring there, has shocked South Korea.

Police investigations and an autopsy showed that the student, whose body was found in a pickup truck on Aug 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 Aug 11 and remain in pre-trial detention, it said.

Many South Korean victims of such crimes in Cambodia are said to have been lured by fraudulent job offers promising high pay, Seoul has said.

Rights group Amnesty International says abuses in Cambodia’s scam centres are happening on a “mass scale”.

There are at least 53 scam compounds in Cambodia where organised criminal groups carry out human trafficking, forced labour, torture, deprivation of liberty and slavery, according to Amnesty.

AFP