FM Cho urges proactive countermeasures against online scams in Southeast Asia

▲ Foreign Minister Cho Hyun (5th from L) presides over a consular meeting on Cambodia job scams on Oct. 16, 2025, in this photo provided by the foreign ministry. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

FM-Cambodia consular meeting

FM Cho urges proactive countermeasures against online scams in Southeast Asia

SEOUL, Oct. 16 (Yonhap) -- Foreign Minister Cho Hyun on Thursday urged officials to make proactive efforts to protect South Korean nationals from falling victim to online scams spreading across Southeast Asia, amid an all-out government effort to tackle crimes targeting Koreans.

Cho made the call during a virtual consular meeting joined by officials from diplomatic missions in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Myanmar, as Seoul is stepping up to address the organized crime following the torture death of a young South Korean in Cambodia.

"Minister Cho instructed officials to make every effort to proactively prevent harm to Korean nationals in the event of related incidents, and to provide prompt and active consular assistance from the very early stages," the ministry said in a release.

The meeting was also attended virtually by Second Vice Foreign Minister Kim Jina, who's currently leading a government response team in Cambodia to handle the matter, including repatriating some 60 South Koreans detained in Phnom Penh over job scams involving abduction and confinement.

Cho also received a briefing from Kim on her meetings earlier in the day with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and the secretary-general of Cambodia's Commission for Combatting Online Scams, a high-level task force chaired by Hun to prevent and crack down on online scams.

Cho called for the response team's visit to serve as an opportunity to "develop comprehensive and concrete bilateral cooperation measures" between the two countries to eradicate the violent crimes, the ministry said.

He also noted that the risk of the Cambodian online scam problem spreading to neighboring countries, such as Vietnam and Thailand, could not be ruled out, urging relevant missions in the region to "remain highly vigilant," the ministry added.

Cho further instructed them to strengthen coordination, not only at the diplomatic and law enforcement level, but also with other major foreign missions in the host countries to establish a regionwide cooperative framework.

The foreign ministry plans to first establish a cooperative system with Cambodia to combat online scam crimes and subsequently expand such collaboration with other countries in the region, it said.

(END)

(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved