Many South Koreans Are Tempted By Work In Cambodia, 80 Missing People Become Victims Of TIP

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Kemenlu) of South Korea (Korsel) revealed that 80 of its missing citizens are suspected of being victims of a criminal act of trafficking in persons (TPPO) in Cambodia.

An official from the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said as many as 330 South Koreans were reported missing or detained after entering Cambodia based on data from January to August this year. However, as many as 80 recorded as unknown to date.

"The safety of about 80 people has not been verified," said an official from the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs to AFP, Tuesday, October 14.

The South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs added that they were re-checking the data with domestic police data to avoid overlapping data.

Lawmaker Yoon Hu-duk in a South Korean parliamentary session revealed that around 21 kidnappings or detentions involving South Koreans in Cambodia occurred in 2023. This figure jumped tenfold to 221 cases in 2024, and jumped up to fifteen times in August 2025.

Not long ago, the kidnapping and torture of a South Korean student in Cambodia was an uproar in South Korea.

According to the South Korean government, many of its citizens are still tempted by the large salaries of illegal work in Cambodia, which in fact is a fraudulent mode.