SEOUL, May 17 — Two South Koreans who were held captive in Cambodia in scam-related incidents have been rescued in separate operations conducted through cooperation between the South Korean and Cambodian authorities.
Yonhap News Agency reported that a disabled man in his 30s travelled to Cambodia via Vietnam after seeing a social media post advertising special recruitment opportunities for disabled persons.
However, he failed to obtain a job and was subsequently held captive in a hotel in the Cambodian city of Sihanoukville.
The police said that after a botched attempt to escape, the victim suffered abuse and threats demanding that he pay US$20,000 (RM78,990)before being rescued on May 7.
South Korean police are conducting follow-up investigations into brokers and others who lured the victim to Cambodia using the fake job posting.
Separately, another captivity report was filed in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on May 10.
A South Korean woman in her 20s had travelled to Cambodia to meet a Chinese man she had met online, but she was later confined and threatened with messages saying she would not be released unless money was paid.
After the report was filed, the Korean Desk, a joint South Korea-Cambodia police task force, launched an operation and rescued her the following day while arresting the Chinese suspect.
"Kidnapping and unlawful confinement cases disguised as overseas job placement opportunities continue to occur in Southeast Asian countries such as Cambodia. Extreme caution is needed,” said the Korean National Police Agency's International Cooperation Bureau acting head Park Joon-sung on Sunday.
In November last year, South Korea and Cambodia formed the joint team tasked with handling crimes involving South Koreans in the Southeast Asian country following public outcry over the torture death of a Korean college student in the country in August, who allegedly fell victim to a job scam.
