64 Korean Nationals Arrested on Repatriation Flight from Cambodia
I wonder if any of these people knew there were going to be arrested as soon as they got on the airplane:
South Korean nationals who had been detained in Cambodia arrive at Incheon International Airport, just west of Seoul, under police escort on Oct. 18, 2025. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
A total of 64 South Koreans who had been detained in Cambodia over alleged online scams arrived home early Saturday on a chartered flight and most of them would face criminal probes as suspects, police officials said.
The large-scale repatriation came after the torture death of a South Korean college student who was lured to work by a criminal ring in Cambodia that triggered public outrage in South Korea.
The Korean Air plane carrying them arrived at Incheon International Airport at 8:35 a.m., about five hours after leaving Techo International Airport near Phnom Penh.
Their arrival came days after a South Korean government response team was dispatched to Cambodia to assist the Korean nationals implicated in online scams run by local crime organizations.
The South Korean nationals were reportedly placed under arrest once they boarded the plane and were set to be taken to police stations nationwide for investigations about their alleged involvement in criminal activity.
You can read more at the link, but it appears these Koreans are suspected of helping the Chinese gangs to lure Koreans to Cambodia to be exploited. Their defense will probably be that they were forced to it by the gangs. This is definitely a mess for the ROK authorities to figure out.
