South Korean foreign minister urges Cambodia’s leader to fight online scams

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) – South Korea’s foreign minister met Monday with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet to pressure him to suppress burgeoning large-scale online scam operations that have been blamed for the brutal death of a Korean student.

The victim, 22-year-old Park Min-ho, was reportedly lured to Cambodia and forced to work in a scam center before his body was found tortured and beaten in August. His death triggered outrage in South Korea, prompting the government to send a delegation to Phnom Penh for urgent talks.

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun would raise the issue of cooperation to eradicate scam-related crimes in Cambodia and launching a joint police task force, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said.

Prime Minister Hun Manet said on social media that the talks in the capital Phnom Penh were “fruitful” and covered a wide range of issues, including trade and investment, defense and tourism.

A senior Cambodian minister in charge of combating cybercrime, Chhay Sinarith, said authorities were following up on their crackdowns by targeting the masterminds and groups behind the scam industry and tracking their finances. He met Monday with Yoo Jae-Seong, the acting commissioner-general of the Korean National Police Agency.

Online scams, many based in Southeast Asian countries, have risen sharply in recent years. Thousands of people, many of them kidnapped or tricked, have been forced to work in guarded compounds, under the threat of violence.

The United Nations and other agencies have estimated that online scams earn international criminal gangs billions of dollars annually. The cybercriminals feign friendship or tout phony investment opportunities to cheat targets around the world.

Scam centers in Cambodia are estimated to have about 200,000 workers including 1,000 South Koreans, according to South Korean officials.

Last month, 64 South Koreans who had been detained by Cambodian police were repatriated on a chartered flight. Around 50 of them were arrested shortly after arrival on charges of involvement in online fraud activities.

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Associated Press video journalist Jerry Harmer in Bangkok contributed to this report.