Korean embassy in Cambodia let scam ringleader walk in 2024
Published: 22 Oct. 2025, 21:31
Updated: 23 Oct. 2025, 17:56
![Lawmakers inspect a criminal compound in Phnom Penh during a parliamentary audit in Cambodia on Oct. 22. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/10/23/1a57a172-9b5e-4f46-8d60-0368ef266394.jpg)
Lawmakers inspect a criminal compound in Phnom Penh during a parliamentary audit in Cambodia on Oct. 22. [YONHAP]
The Korean embassy in Cambodia is facing backlash after it was revealed to have released a man wanted on an Interpol Red Notice who had voluntarily walked into the embassy.
The suspect, a 31-year-old man surnamed Kang, is the alleged ringleader of a romance scam ring based in Cambodia that defrauded around 100 victims out of approximately 12 billion won ($8 million). Despite being internationally wanted, Kang was not reported to local authorities when he visited the embassy last November to renew his passport.
Kang had visited the Korean Embassy in Phnom Penh in November 2024, according to testimony during a National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee audit held at the embassy on Wednesday. At the time, he was the subject of an Interpol Red Notice for allegedly running a romance scam operation with his wife, a 29-year-old woman surnamed Ahn, between March 2024 and February 2025.
An embassy police liaison officer informed Kang of the Red Notice but allowed him to leave without taking further action. When Kang asked why his passport could not be renewed, he was told he was under an international wanted notice. He then expressed an intention to return to Korea and turn himself in.
Rather than alerting Cambodian authorities, embassy staff provided Kang with information on procedures he would face upon departure and connected him by phone with an investigator from the Ulsan Nambu Police Precinct in Korea, Sergeant Kim Pil-jin, who inquired about securing Kang’s custody or arranging forced extradition. The embassy, however, responded that “it would be excessive to call in local police just because someone is on a Red Notice.”
![Lawmakers question members of the Korean Embassy in Cambodia during a parliamentary audit in Cambodia on Oct. 22. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/10/23/9eeeeea4-a155-41e9-92c6-0caba8e62c49.jpg)
Lawmakers question members of the Korean Embassy in Cambodia during a parliamentary audit in Cambodia on Oct. 22. [YONHAP]
Kang did not return to Korea or surrender. He went into hiding after leaving the embassy. The embassy took no follow-up action for nearly three months and only notified Cambodian authorities earlier this year.
Kang and his wife were arrested in Cambodia in early February but were released in early June. Korean Justice Ministry officials traveled to Cambodia in late July and worked with local police to rearrest the couple. They are currently in custody in Cambodia.
The Justice Ministry had requested their extradition earlier this year, but the request was denied. A renewed appeal for extradition was made during a meeting with a Cambodian vice justice minister on Tuesday.
During the audit, Kim Joon-hyung, a lawmaker from the Rebuilding Korea Party, asked whether the embassy had effectively helped Kang evade justice. In response, Kim Hyun-soo, the chargé d’affaires at the Korean Embassy in Cambodia, said the police liaison officer believed at the time that an Interpol Red Notice did not carry the authority of an immediate arrest warrant.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY MOON SANG-HYEOK, KIM YOUN-HO [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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