The South Korean Embassy in Thailand has publicly denied claims that Seoul’s prime minister linked seven Thai politicians to Cambodian-based call center scam gangs, as South Korea intensifies its national crackdown on such transnational criminal enterprises.
The embassy’s official Facebook page, representing the Republic of Korea in Thailand, issued a statement in both Thai and English. It directly refuted a report by a Thai news agency that had alleged the South Korean Prime Minister revealed the involvement of Thai politicians in online fraud rings operating from Cambodia.
This diplomatic clarification comes as South Korea takes aggressive steps to combat widespread online scam operations. These efforts include the recent repatriation of dozens of its citizens and the rescue of others from coercive conditions abroad.
Sixty-four South Korean nationals, previously detained in Cambodia on suspicion of involvement in online scam call centers, returned to South Korea on a charter flight Saturday morning. Most of these individuals are expected to face criminal investigations as suspects.
Separately, South Korean Member of Parliament Kim Byung-joo successfully aided the rescue of three civilians. They had been held captive in an online fraud center in Cambodia, prompting local police to raid the facility after receiving their plea for help.
The large-scale repatriations and rescue missions gained urgency following the death of a South Korean student. The student was reportedly tortured after being lured into working for a criminal organization in Cambodia, an incident that sparked significant public outrage across South Korea.