Cambodian

South Korea has banned citizens from going to parts of Cambodia amid growing concerns over the country’s scam industry.

Dozens of South Korean nationals who had been detained in Cambodia for alleged involvement in cyberscam operations have been returned home and placed under arrest, according to South Korean authorities.

Officers arrested the individuals on board a chartered flight sent to collect them from Cambodia, a South Korean police official told the AFP news agency.

“A total of 64 nationals just arrived at the Incheon international airport on a chartered flight,” the official said on Saturday, adding that all of the individuals have been taken into custody as criminal suspects.

South Korea sent a team to Cambodia earlier this week to investigate dozens of its nationals who were kidnapped into the Southeast Asian nation’s online scam industry.

South Korean National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac previously said the detained individuals included both “voluntary and involuntary participants” in scam operations.

On Friday, Cambodian Ministry of Interior spokesman Touch Sokhak said the repatriation agreement with South Korea was the “result of good cooperation in suppression of scams between the two countries”.

Online scam operations have proliferated in Cambodia since the COVID-19 pandemic, when the global shutdown saw many Chinese-owned casinos and hotels in the country pivot to illicit operations.

Operating from industrial-scale scam centres, tens of thousands of workers perpetrate online romance scams known as “pig-butchering”, often targeting people in the West in a vastly lucrative industry responsible for the theft of tens of billions of dollars each year.

Pig-butchering – a euphemism for fattening up a victim before they are slaughtered – often involves fraudulent cryptocurrency investment schemes that build trust over time before funds are stolen.

Parallel industries have blossomed in Laos, the Philippines and war-ravaged Myanmar, where accounts of imprisonment and abuse in scam centres are the most severe.

An estimated 200,000 people are working in dozens of large-scale scam operations across Cambodia, with many scam compounds owned by or linked to the country’s wealthy and politically connected. About 1,000 South Korean nationals are believed to be among that figure.

On Tuesday, the United States and United Kingdom announced sweeping sanctions against a Cambodia-based multinational crime network, identified as the Prince Group, for running a chain of “scam centres” across the region.

UK authorities seized 19 London properties worth more than 100 million pounds ($134m) linked to the Prince Group, which markets itself as a legitimate real estate, financial services and consumer businesses firm.

Prosecutors said that at one point, Prince Group’s chair, Chinese-Cambodian tycoon Chen Zhi, bragged that scam operations were pulling in $30m a day.

Chen – who has served as an adviser to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and his father, long-ruling former Prime Minister Hun Sen – is also wanted on charges of wire fraud and money laundering, according to the UK and US.

Still at large, he faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted.

The move by the UK and US against the Prince Group came as South Korea announced a ban on travel to parts of Cambodia on Wednesday amid growing concerns over its citizens entering the scam industry.

South Korean police have said they will also conduct a joint investigation into the recent death of a college student in Cambodia who was reportedly kidnapped and tortured by a crime ring.

The South Korean student was found dead in a pick-up truck on August 8 in Cambodia’s southern Kampot province, with an autopsy revealing he “died as a result of severe torture, with multiple bruises and injuries across his body”.

Cambodia demands return of more soldiers held by Thailand as border tensions simmer between the two countries.

Thailand has released two wounded Cambodian soldiers who were captured following intense clashes near a contested border area, as the neighbours prepare for talks next week aimed at maintaining a shaky truce.

The soldiers were returned on Friday through a checkpoint connecting Thailand’s Surin province and Cambodia’s Oddar Meanchey, the Cambodian Defence Ministry said.

Their homecoming comes amid continued accusations from both governments over alleged civilian targeting and breaches of international law during a five-day conflict that erupted last week.

Eighteen other Cambodian troops captured during skirmishes on Tuesday, hours after a ceasefire deal was reached, remain in Thai custody.

“The wounded soldiers were returned through a designated border point,” said Maly Socheata, a spokesperson for Cambodia’s Defence Ministry, urging Bangkok to repatriate the remaining captured troops “in accordance with international humanitarian law”.

The two governments have provided starkly contrasting versions of the soldiers’ capture.

Phnom Penh says its troops approached Thai positions with peaceful intentions, offering post-conflict greetings. But Bangkok disputes that account, alleging the Cambodian soldiers crossed into Thai territory with apparent hostility, prompting their detention.

Thai officials say they are adhering to legal protocols while assessing the actions of the remaining soldiers. No timeline has been given for their release.

The ceasefire has done little to ease simmering nationalist anger online, with social media platforms in both countries flooded by patriotic fervour and mutual recriminations.

Meanwhile, both nations have taken foreign diplomats and observers on guided tours of former combat zones. Each side has accused the other of inflicting damage, using the visits to bolster their narratives.

The recent round of violence involved infantry clashes, Cambodian rocket fire, Thai air strikes, and artillery exchanges. The fighting killed more than 30 people, including civilians, and forced more than 260,000 others from their homes.

Under the ceasefire terms, military officials from both countries are due to meet next week in Malaysia to discuss de-escalation measures.

However, these talks will exclude the underlying territorial dispute, which has remained unresolved for decades.

The General Border Committee, which coordinates on border security, ceasefires, and troop deployments, will meet between August 4 and 7, Thai acting Defence Minister Nattaphon Narkphanit told reporters.

“Defence attaches from other ASEAN countries will be invited as well as the defence attaches from the US and China,” a Malaysian government spokesperson told reporters, referring to the Southeast Asian regional bloc that the country currently chairs.

Separately on Friday, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chanthol said Phnom Penh intends to nominate United States President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, citing his role in brokering the ceasefire.

Speaking earlier in the capital, he thanked Trump for “bringing peace” and insisted the US leader deserved the award.

Similar nominations have recently come from Pakistan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, both citing Trump’s interventions in regional disputes.

July 24 (UPI) — Cambodia and Thailand exchanged attacks Thursday morning along their disputed border as tensions between the two countries that had been rising over the past few days turned violent.

The Thai military said at least three of its civilians and a soldier were injured.

Both sides have accused one another of firing first near the ancient Ta Muen Temple, located along the disputed Thai-Cambodia border.

The Royal Thai Army accused Cambodian forces in a statement of having opened fire at 8:20 a.m. local time. The Cambodian Ministry of National Defense laid blame on Thai soldiers, saying they initiated a “direct attack against Cambodian forces” stationed near the temple.

The ministry said in a statement that Thai forces opened fire at 8:46 a.m., leaving the Cambodian forces “no choice but to exercise their right to self-defense.”

Since then, continued military clashes have been reported.

At least three Thai citizens were injured when two BM-21 rockets launched by Cambodia hit a community area within the Border Development Center in Kap Choeng District, Surin Province, at 9:40 a.m. local time, the Royal Thai Army said in a statement.

It published images of the aftermath online, showing a wooden building with shattered windows and a pool of blood on the ground.

It said residents had been evacuated from the area.

Thailand’s 2nd Regional Military Command reported on Facebook that there were “clashes happening all along the front lines” involving “both small guns and heavy weapons.”

“One Thai soldier has been injured,” it said.

The Thai military has deployed F-16 fighter jets, which the military command said had “destroyed” a Cambodian brigade.

Cambodia’s Ministry of Defense confirmed that Thai warplanes had dropped bombs near where Cambodian troops were stationed.

It accused Thailand of using heavy weaponry and a large-scale deployment of troops to “forcibly seize Cambodian territory.” It alleged that Thailand was violating the United Nations Charter as well as international law.

Cambodia’s prime minister, Hun Manet, said in a statement on Facebook that Thai troops had launched attacks targeting Cambodian military positions at Prasat Ta Moan Thom and Prasat Ta Krabey and were expanding their assault.

“Cambodia has always maintained a position of resolving conflicts through peaceful means. However, in this case, we have no choice but to respond with armed force against this military aggression,” he said.

About two hours later, he published a letter addressed to the acting chairman of the United Nations’ Security Council demanding immediate intervention to “end the Thai army’s aggression on Cambodia’s sovereign territory.”

The fighting began Thursday after members of the Thai task force reported hearing sounds of a Cambodian drone circling the temple, which was followed by six Cambodian soldiers, armed with weapons, including RPGs, approaching a barbed-wire area near a Thai operations base.

“Thai forces employed verbal negotiations through loudspeakers to avoid conflict and prevent escalation of the situation while maintaining vigilance along the entire border line in preparation for any developments,” the Royal Thai Army said in a statement.

The Cambodian Ministry of Defense accused the Thai forces of having violated previous agreements between their countries by “occupying” the temple.

The two sides have battled for decades over disputed regions of their shared border, but tensions have been spiking since Wednesday, when five Thai soldiers were injured, including one who lost a leg, due to a landmine within the Thai-Cambodia border region.

Thailand responded by closing all border crossing points between the two countries and tourist attractions in the border region.

Cambodia’s Ministry of Defense has denied the allegations of wrongdoing.

“Cambodia has repeatedly reminded the Thai side that these areas still contain landmines that are war remnants that have yet to be cleared and has urged the Thai side to avoid practicing contradictory use of roadways for patrolling,” it said in a statement.

“It is extremely saddening that the Thai side not only holds responsibility for its aggression and also accuses Cambodia of violation International law, but Cambodia itself is the unjust victim of Thai law violation.”

Troops from Thailand and Cambodia exchanged fire at a disputed portion of their border early on Thursday, both sides said.

The Thai military said Cambodian soldiers opened fire near the Khmer temple Ta Muen Thom, where tensions have run high in recent weeks.

Cambodia’s defence ministry however said Thai troops fired the first shots, and Cambodian soldiers responded in self-defence.

Cambodia had sent a surveillance drone into the area before deploying troops carrying heavy weapons, the Thai military said.

A spokeswoman for the Cambodian defence ministry, Maly Socheata, said their troops “exercised their right to defend their sovereignty and territorial integrity against the aggression of the Thai troops.

Socheata said Thailand “violated the territorial integrity of Cambodia”.

The clash on Thursday morning comes hours after Thailand recalled its ambassador to Cambodia, following a landmine explosion that injured a Thai soldier along the border.

On Wednesday, Bangkok also said it would expel Cambodia’s ambassador.

Bilateral relations between the two countries are at their worst in more than a decade, after armed clashes in May left one Cambodian soldier dead.

In the past two months, both countries have imposed tit-for-tat restrictions and strengthened troops presence along the border.

BREAKINGBREAKING,

The clash is the latest in a long-running deadly border dispute between the Southeast Asian neighbours.

A clash has taken place between Thai and Cambodian troops at a disputed area of their border, Thailand’s military has said.

In a statement, the Thai military said Cambodian troops opened fire in an area near the disputed Ta Moan Thom temple – located on the countries’ shared border in northwestern Cambodia’s Oddar Meanchey Province – early on Thursday.

It said Cambodia had deployed a surveillance drone before sending troops to the area with heavy weapons.

In May, a long-running border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia boiled over into military clashes that left one Cambodian soldier dead.

The continuing border dispute has soured relations between the Southeast Asian neighbours, with the two sides trading barbs and tit-for-tat retaliatory measures, including the closure of border crossings.

Cambodia has also blocked imports of fuel and gas, as well as fruit and vegetables, from Thailand.

Most recently, on Wednesday, a Thai soldier sustained injuries and lost his right leg in a landmine incident.

In response, Thailand’s governing Pheu Thai Party said it had recalled Thailand’s ambassador to Cambodia and will expel Cambodia’s ambassador from the country. Thailand has also downgraded diplomatic relations with Cambodia, the party said.

In response, Cambodia has withdrawn all of its diplomats from Thailand and ordered all Thai diplomats to leave the country.

The Cambodian government also downgraded diplomatic relations with Thailand to the “lowest level”, reducing it to the rank of “second secretary”, according to local news outlet the Phnom Penh Post.

Earlier, Thailand had accused Cambodia of placing landmines on the Thai side of the disputed border area between Thailand’s Ubon Ratchathani Province and Cambodia’s Preah Vihear Province, after three soldiers were injured while on a patrol on July 16.

Cambodia claims the soldiers, one of whom lost his foot in the explosion, veered off agreed routes and triggered a mine left behind from decades of war.