The death of a young South Korean student in Cambodia has thrown a harsh spotlight on a sprawling network of online scam operations, human trafficking, and forced labor that has ensnared thousands across Southeast Asia. On October 16, 2025, South Korean and Cambodian officials met in Phnom Penh to coordinate a response to these crimes, following the August murder of 22-year-old Park Min-ho. His tragic story, and the international outcry it sparked, have prompted urgent action and a new sense of cooperation between the two countries.
Park Min-ho’s ordeal began innocuously enough. According to reports from The Associated Press, he told his family he was visiting Cambodia for an exhibition in July 2025. Shortly after his arrival, however, Park was kidnapped by a criminal gang that demanded a $35,000 ransom. In August, his body was discovered in the bed of a pickup truck near Bokor Mountain in Cambodia’s Kampot province. Authorities determined he died of cardiac arrest after being tortured and beaten. An autopsy, conducted with pathologists from both South Korea and Cambodia after a brief diplomatic dispute, confirmed the extent of the violence he suffered.
Park’s death is far from an isolated incident. According to South Korean National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac, Cambodia’s vast online scam industry is estimated to employ around 200,000 people from various nationalities, including roughly 1,000 South Koreans. Many of these individuals, Wi said in a Seoul briefing, were lured to Cambodia with promises of lucrative jobs, only to be forced into labor at scam centers. Some, however, may have gone voluntarily, only to find themselves trapped in a web of criminality and coercion.
In the first eight months of 2025 alone, South Korea reported that 330 of its citizens had been detained in Cambodia in connection with scam operations. That number was later revised down to 80, with 63 currently in Cambodian detention following recent crackdowns. South Korea has pledged to bring all detained nationals home, arranging flights to complete repatriations by the end of the week. Wi emphasized that among those detained, there are both “voluntary and involuntary participants,” but added, “most of them should be regarded as having committed criminal acts” for their involvement, regardless of initial intentions.
The case has fueled outrage in South Korea and renewed calls for action against the criminal networks operating in Cambodia and neighboring countries. Amnesty International has described these scam compounds as operating on a “mass scale,” with links to kidnapping, human trafficking, forced labor, slavery, deprivation of liberty, and torture. According to AP and AFP reports, more than 50 such scam centers are believed to be active in Cambodia alone, many run by Chinese criminal organizations.
Cambodian authorities, for their part, have responded with a series of high-profile raids and arrests. Cambodia’s National Police recently charged three Chinese nationals—Li Xingpeng, Zhu Renzhe, and Liu Haoxing—with murder and online fraud in connection with Park Min-ho’s death. Two other Chinese suspects remain at large. At least 80 South Koreans were rescued and placed under police protection after a recent crackdown on cyberscam criminals, according to Touch Sokhak, a spokesman for Cambodia’s Interior Ministry. In early October, Cambodian police arrested 80 suspects of seven nationalities—most of them Chinese—in a large-scale online fraud operation in Phnom Penh. Interior Minister Sar Sokha stated that at least 15,000 foreigners involved in online crimes have been deported from Cambodia over the past two years.
Despite these efforts, the problem is far from contained. Jeremy Douglas, chief of staff for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, told AP that Southeast Asia’s Mekong region—border areas between Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand—is “arguably the most significant global hub for scams and illegal online gaming.” He explained, “Criminals like the conditions, the freedom they have, the ability to make and hide money with little resistance.” Douglas warned, “It is unclear how governments will respond, but the main thing now is pulling together on a regional solution. The situation can’t simply be ignored.”
The financial scale of these operations is staggering. The United Nations and other agencies estimate that cyber scams originating from Southeast Asia generate billions of dollars annually for international criminal gangs. The criminals typically feign friendship or tout phony investment opportunities to cheat targets around the world, a practice known as “pig butchering.” The U.S. Department of Justice recently seized nearly $15 billion in bitcoin and charged UK-Cambodian businessman Chen Zhi, chairman of Prince Holding Group, with running scam centers that exploited forced labor to carry out cryptocurrency fraud schemes. U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella called it “one of the largest investment fraud operations in history.” Chen remains at large and could face up to 40 years in prison if convicted. The U.S. Department of Treasury has labeled his company a transnational criminal organization.
In response to the mounting dangers, South Korea has taken unprecedented steps to protect its citizens. On October 16, 2025, the Foreign Ministry issued a “code-black” travel ban for parts of Cambodia, including Bokor Mountain, Bavet, and Poipet. “South Korean nationals visiting or staying in those areas may be subject to penalties under the Passport Act and other relevant regulations. Citizens planning to travel to such areas are therefore strongly advised to cancel their trips,” the ministry said in a statement. The ban is intended to prevent further abductions and highlight the risks posed by the region’s criminal networks.
South Korea has also sent a special team of investigators, intelligence officials, and police to Cambodia to confer with authorities about Park Min-ho’s case and the broader issue of scam compounds. Both countries have pledged to strengthen bilateral cooperation. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet stated, “Cambodia and the Republic of Korea will continue to strengthen our collaboration to prevent, suppress, and combat online scams more effectively, contributing to the maintenance of peace, public order, and social security.” He was adamant, however, that Cambodia does not require third-party intervention, saying, “Cambodia does not need any neighboring country to carry out such work on its behalf.”
The international dimension of these crimes is impossible to ignore. The U.S. Treasury Department has recorded a 66% increase in losses from such scams among American citizens and businesses, totaling more than $10 billion last year. Meanwhile, new militarized call centers are reportedly spreading in Myanmar, using Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites to access the internet and evade local crackdowns.
For the families of victims like Park Min-ho, and the thousands still trapped in scam operations across Southeast Asia, the hope is that these latest efforts mark a turning point. As governments grapple with the scale and complexity of the crisis, the need for regional cooperation, stronger law enforcement, and protection for vulnerable workers has never been more urgent.
What began as a personal tragedy for one family has become a catalyst for international action against a shadowy industry that has flourished in the region’s legal and regulatory gaps. The world will be watching to see if this time, the response matches the scale of the crime.