SEOUL (AFP) — Seoul on Wednesday banned travel to parts of Cambodia with South Korea shaken by the torture and killing of a college student there.
The move comes as South Korea prepares to send a special team to the Southeast Asian country later Wednesday to discuss cases of fake jobs and scam centers involved in kidnapping dozens of its nationals.
“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. Citizens planning to travel to such areas are therefore strongly advised to cancel their trips,” it 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 the student, whose body was found in a pickup truck on 8 August, “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 11 August and remain in pre-trial detention, it said.
The ban follows an official announcement earlier in the day that about 1,000 South Koreans are believed to be working in Cambodian scam operations, targeting potential victims in South Korea.
“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,” National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac told reporters.