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