Police arrest 5 individuals suspected of abduction, torture of Korean national in Cambodia
Published: 30 Sep. 2025, 16:44
Updated: 30 Sep. 2025, 19:19
![Four Chinese nationals and one Cambodian are arrested by police on Sept. 23 for abducting a Korean man in his 50s in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. [SCREEN CAPTURE]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/09/30/3cceaa75-d929-4965-af45-dc5de4032034.jpg)
Four Chinese nationals and one Cambodian are arrested by police on Sept. 23 for abducting a Korean man in his 50s in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. [SCREEN CAPTURE]
A 51-year-old Korean man was abducted and tortured by armed assailants in downtown Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in a targeted attack that has prompted warnings from Korean authorities.
Phnom Penh police arrested four Chinese nationals and one Cambodian on Sept. 23 on suspicion of kidnapping and torturing the Korean man, according to local media including the Khmer Times on Tuesday.
The abduction occurred around 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 21 as the victim was returning to his car after visiting a cafe in Boeng Keng Kang, one of the busiest commercial districts in the Cambodian capital.
A security guard at the cafe witnessed the man being forcibly dragged into a vehicle and immediately reported the incident to the police.
Responding officers reviewed CCTV footage from the scene and were able to identify the suspects but initially failed to apprehend them. One of the Chinese suspects returned to the cafe to retrieve the victim’s car, at which point police arrested him on the spot.
The following day at around 5 p.m., police raided a hotel in Phnom Penh, rescued the Korean victim and arrested the remaining four suspects — three Chinese nationals and one Cambodian man who allegedly acted as the driver.
During the raid, police seized a semiautomatic pistol with two magazines and nine rounds of live ammunition, as well as 112 pills, believed to be narcotics, and drug paraphernalia.
All five suspects are currently being held at the Boeng Keng Kang District Police Station. While authorities have not yet disclosed the exact motive behind the abduction, they believe it was likely premeditated.
In response to a growing number of cases involving job scams and unlawful detentions of Korean nationals in so-called scam centers across Cambodia, the Korean government issued elevated travel advisories for certain regions of the country as of 5 p.m. on Sept. 16.
Phnom Penh has been placed under a Level 2 travel alert, urging caution, while special travel advisories equivalent to Level 2.5 have been issued for Sihanoukville, Bokor Mountain and Bavet.
“We strongly advise Korean nationals to cancel or postpone travel to the areas under special travel advisories, and those already in such regions should move to safer locations as soon as possible,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JANG GU-SEUL [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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