Cambodia scam fallout continues despite weekend repatriations

After dozens of repatriations on Saturday, South Korea continued to simmer over Cambodian crimes against its citizens, with Seoul dispatching investigators, a major water project being put on hold, and some calling for a review of aid to the country.

Korean police on Sunday dispatched investigators and forensic pathologists to Phnom Penh to conduct an autopsy with Cambodian authorities on Monday, on a 22-year-old South Korean man who is believed to have been tortured at a crime compound there.

The autopsy was agreed upon after a South Korean interagency team intervened in Cambodia last week.

Sixty-four Koreans on Saturday were repatriated following the arrival on Wednesday of an interagency response team from Seoul, led by Second Vice Foreign Minister Kim Jin-a. They will undergo a police investigation and will be held by the Cambodian authorities on suspicion of taking part in scams. Their repatriation is legally a deportation.

The deportees have been in custody since boarding a chartered flight from Phnom Penh to Incheon that flew in the early hours of Saturday. Over 190 police officers accompanied the flight. They can be held without a court warrant for up to 48 hours, or until Monday morning.

Police have sought arrest warrants for dozens of South Koreans, who were repatriated Saturday, in connection with a scam syndicate and related crimes. The warrants had not been issued as of press time.

An estimated 1,500 more Korean nationals who are also suspected of involvement in scam activities in Cambodia have not returned.

Meanwhile, the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit, a body under the Financial Services Commission dedicated to monitoring money laundering, is reportedly considering taking action against entities involved in such transnational scams, such as Prince Group or Huione Group.

Amid expanding investigations into South Koreans involved in crime rings in Cambodia, an international project led by South Korea and the United Nations to improve water management in Cambodia has been put on hold, amid growing safety concerns that raised questions from political circles here about Seoul’s foreign aid to the Southeast Asian nation.

A planned ceremony to hand over the project to use renewable energy for the water supply to Cambodian authorities has been postponed, according to the Science and Technology Policy Institute, though similar projects will continue elsewhere.

Meanwhile, a ruling party lawmaker urged the Lee Jae Myung administration to suspend foreign aid to the country if there was no progress on safety issues.

"If Cambodia continues to refuse to cooperate with South Korea despite diplomatic efforts by President Lee Jae Myung's administration, the government should proactively consider stopping foreign aid to Cambodia," Rep. Jeon Hyun-heui, a three-term lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, said in a press conference at the National Assembly on Sunday.

"What came in return for the spike in South Korea's ODA (official development assistance) to Cambodia was the gruesome reality of abduction, violence and homicide targeting Koreans," she said.

Her remarks contrasted with the government’s stance, which had said it was not linking the recent crimes in Cambodia to South Korea’s foreign aid to the Southeast Asian nation.

Wi Sung-lac, director of the presidential National Security Office, said in a briefing on Wednesday that he would “not directly associate the surge in crimes with ODA.” However, he noted some aid projects were under investigation for alleged corruption.

According to government data submitted to the National Assembly, the budget allocated to Cambodian projects more than doubled to 435.3 billion won ($305.5 million) for this year from 178.9 billion won in 2022.

The percentage increase was the sharpest among the 27 destinations for South Korean foreign aid. A liberal party-sponsored special counsel team suspects that the previous conservative administration's increase in foreign aid to Cambodia is linked to alleged corruption involving the Unification Church, which had sought to carry out a development project in Cambodia.

Jeon, who is also a member of the party's supreme council, raised the possibility of Seoul opting for military intervention to address safety concerns there, but her remarks were soon countered by fellow party lawmakers.

"South Korea cannot rule out military action if necessary," she said, adding that her remarks did not suggest war against Cambodia, but that it was legitimate to use military intervention to ensure people's safety as enshrined in the Constitution.

Later Sunday, however, Rep. Kim Byung-kee, floor leader of the ruling Democratic Party, refuted Jeon's claims, playing down any possibility of military action.

Rep. Kim Byung-joo, an Army general-turned-lawmaker who visited Cambodia last week and led a separate operation to bring three Koreans home, also said that military action was not something for Seoul to consider.

This came as lawmakers of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee are also set to hold a parliamentary inspection of South Korea's embassy in Cambodia to examine the diplomatic mission's operations in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Laos on Wednesday.

The lawmakers will visit sites believed to have operated as scam compounds on the outskirts of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, during their visit to the country from Tuesday to Friday.

Son Ji-hyoung

The Korea Herald

Asia News Network