Korean embassy under fire as lawmakers grill officials over Cambodia crime surge

Korean lawmakers on Wednesday accused the nation’s embassy in Cambodia of failing to respond swiftly to an increase in abduction and confinement cases involving Korean nationals, following a National Intelligence Service (NIS) report suggesting that as many as 2,000 Koreans may have participated in large-scale scam operations across the country. During an on-site audit at the embassy in Phnom Penh, members of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee questioned embassy officials about what they called “a serious lapse in protecting citizens abroad.” According to the embassy, about 100 of the 550 kidnapping and confinement reports filed over the past two years remain unresolved, while 450 were closed following rescue operations or releases. The lawmakers said that the response had been slow despite repeated appeals from the families of victims and civic groups. Rival lawmakers voiced rare unity in condemning the embassy’s handling of the crisis but clashed over its root causes. Members of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) argued that the governmeWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times