A family lost contact with an individual who, during a video call on Telegram, had said that sending 20 million KRW would secure his release. Reports have emerged of a kidnapping and subsequent murder of a college student from Yecheon, Gyeongbuk, in Cambodia, while a 30-something man from Sangju has also been reported abducted by a criminal organization in the region.
According to the Gyeongbuk Police Agency, the family of a man in his 30s, identified as A, reported him missing on August 22. A had left for Cambodia on August 19 and subsequently lost contact. On August 24, five days after departing, A managed to contact his family via a video call using the mobile messenger app Telegram, requesting 20 million KRW for his release, before contact was lost again.
Photos posted to A’s social media show him holding a notebook with loan details, and his family received multiple threatening text messages without caller ID. Police suspect that A is being threatened and extorted by an overseas criminal organization. On August 23, they informed the Korean embassy in Cambodia, the National Police Agency’s International Cooperation Division, and the Consular Call Center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
This case is one of seven reports this year of individuals from the Gyeongbuk region disappearing after traveling to Cambodia, including the Yecheon college student case. Out of these, two cases, including one from Sangju and another from Gyeongju, remain unsolved.