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64 nationals detained in Cambodia over alleged online scams return home, face probes

Published: 18 Oct. 2025, 11:25 Updated: 18 Oct. 2025, 15:14

JIN MIN-JI
[email protected]

Detained Korean nationals in Cambodia board a bus in Phnom Penh on Oct. 17 to be repatriated back to their home country. [NEWS1]

The Korean nationals who had been detained in Cambodia over their alleged involvement in online scams arrived home early on Saturday on a government-chartered flight. Of the 64 nationals in total, most of them will face criminal probes as suspects, police officials said.

The large-scale repatriation came after the death of a Korean college student who was lured by work by a criminal ring in Cambodia, an event that triggered public outrage in Korea.

The Korean Air flight KE9689 carrying the nationals arrived at Incheon International Airport at 8:35 a.m., about five hours after leaving Techo International Airport near Phnom Penh.

Their arrival came days after a government response team was dispatched to Cambodia to assist the Korean nationals implicated in online scams run by local crime organizations.

The Korean nationals were reportedly placed under arrest once they boarded the plane and were set to be taken to police stations nationwide for investigations into their alleged involvement in criminal activity.

In August, a Korean university student was found to have been tortured and killed in Cambodia, a month after he was lured to the country by a job scam.

The case put a spotlight on the growing number of nationals lured to Cambodia with high-paying job offers and then forced to work in online scams targeting Koreans, often under confinement and violence from crime rings.

The returnees are accused of involvement in online scams at criminal complexes in Cambodia, with 59 of them being detained after a crackdown by Cambodian authorities, while the rest were rescued after reporting their confinement.

They are accused of participating in voice phishing and romance scams operated out of so-called “Wrench” crime compounds in Cambodia.

Most of them face criminal charges in Korea, with some under Interpol Red Notices.

It marked the largest operation by Korean authorities to bring back Korean criminals from a single foreign country, and the third repatriation operation of its kind.

Some 190 police officers also boarded the plane to escort the 64 Korean nationals.

BY JIN MIN-JI, YONHAP [[email protected]]