PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Dozens of South Koreans allegedly involved in online fraud in Cambodia are to be flown home aboard a chartered plane, officials said Friday.
The repatriation follows the death of a South Korean student who was allegedly forced to work at a fraud center in Cambodia. His death sparked public outrage in South Korea and prompted the government to send a delegation to the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh to discuss joint responses.
Cambodian Interior Ministry spokesman Touch Sokhak said 64 South Koreans were to be repatriated from Cambodia late Friday.
South Korea’s national security director Wi Sung-lac earlier told a briefing in Seoul that the two countries were in the final stages of negotiations on a charter flight, with about 60 South Koreans expected to leave Phnom Penh around midnight local time.
A Korean Air plane was seen arriving at Techo International Airport’s VIP charter section on Friday night.
Upon arrival, the South Koreans, who were previously detained in a crackdown on fraud centers in Cambodia, will face investigations, Wi said, in an apparent attempt to determine whether they voluntarily joined the fraud organizations or were forced to work after being brought in through fake job advertisements.
Fraud centers in Cambodia are estimated to have about 200,000 workers, including 1,000 South Koreans, according to South Korean officials.
Online fraud has skyrocketed since the COVID-19 pandemic, with two sets of victims – those forced to work as fraudsters under threat of violence, and the targets of their scams through fake investment offers, illegal gambling and even romantic tricks. Monitoring groups say online fraud earns international criminal gangs billions of dollars a year.
On Thursday, a ban on travel to South Korea went into effect for parts of Cambodia, including Mount Bokor in Kampot province, where a South Korean student was found dead. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet has asked for restrictions to be eased, Seoul’s foreign ministry said.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Friday ordered authorities to take urgent measures to try to eliminate illegal job advertisements not only in Cambodia but across Southeast Asia.
Online fraud centers were previously concentrated in Southeast Asian countries including Cambodia and Myanmar, with most of the trafficked and other workers originating from Asia. But an Interpol report in June said that over the past three years, victims had been trafficked to Southeast Asia from far-flung regions including South America, Western Europe and East Africa, and that new centers were reported in the Middle East, West Africa and Central America.
Kim was reporting from Seoul, South Korea. Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung contributed to this report from Seoul.
This article was generated from an automated news agency source without text modification.
