Seoul: Eighty South Koreans who were possible victims of fake jobs or scam centers were unaccounted for in Cambodia, South Korea’s foreign ministry told AFP Tuesday.
A foreign ministry official said that between January and August this year, 330 South Koreans were reported to have gone missing or been held against their will after entering Cambodia.
As of August, “The safety of about 80 people has yet to be verified,” a foreign ministry official told AFP.
The ministry added that they are cross-checking the figures with police data at home to avoid overlap.
While there were around 21 cases of kidnapping or confinement involving South Koreans in Cambodia in 2023, the figure jumped tenfold to 221 last year and further surged to fifteenfold as of August, lawmaker Yoon Hu-duk said in a parliamentary hearing.
