Two South Koreans Return Home After Detention in Cambodia Crackdown

Two South Korean nationals detained during a crime suppression operation by Cambodian authorities have returned home, police confirmed on Friday. The development follows Phnom Penh’s announcement a day earlier that it plans to deport 59 South Koreans accused of involvement in cyberscam operations.

South Korea had dispatched an official delegation to Cambodia on Wednesday to discuss the rising number of cases involving fraudulent job offers and scam centres linked to the kidnapping of South Korean citizens.

According to Seoul’s authorities, a total of 63 South Koreans have been detained in Cambodia. The South Korean government has pledged to repatriate all affected nationals as swiftly as possible.

“Two South Koreans who had been awaiting repatriation from Cambodia arrived at Incheon International Airport on Friday,” an official from the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) told AFP.

The official declined to provide specific information about what activities the two had been involved in while in Cambodia.

Another two South Koreans had already returned home earlier in the week, the KNPA confirmed, though it did not clarify whether any of the four had been formally deported by Cambodian authorities.

South Korea’s National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac stated that the 63 detainees included both “voluntary and involuntary participants” in the online scam operations.

An official from South Korea’s Foreign Ministry told AFP that the government was not yet in a position to confirm details of the 59 nationals Cambodia has pledged to deport.

Authorities in Seoul estimate that around 1,000 South Koreans may be among the approximately 200,000 individuals currently involved in cyberscam networks across Cambodia.

These operations are frequently associated with “pig butchering” scams — fraudulent cryptocurrency investment schemes in which perpetrators build trust with victims over weeks or months before stealing their assets.

Experts warn that Cambodia has become a major regional hub for organised cybercrime. Over the past few years, the country has witnessed an explosive growth in online scam compounds, many of which are run by transnational criminal syndicates.

These networks often coerce victims — including foreign workers — into carrying out online fraud under threats of violence or confinement.

The multi-billion-dollar illicit industry “has ballooned in Cambodia in recent years,” experts say, “with thousands of people perpetrating online scams, some willingly and others forced by criminal organisations operating the fraud networks.”

Overview of the South Korean Detainee Situation in Cambodia

The coordinated crackdown by Cambodian authorities marks one of the largest efforts in Southeast Asia to dismantle cyber fraud syndicates, many of which exploit foreign nationals through false job offers.

While the recent repatriations signal progress, South Korean officials stress that many of their citizens remain trapped or under investigation, and further bilateral cooperation will be required to bring them safely home and hold the criminal networks accountable