The remains of 22-year-old university student Park, who was tortured and killed in a criminal compound in Cambodia, were returned to Korea on Tuesday. But just a day earlier, another Korean man in his 50s was found dead at a hotel in Sihanoukville. Although diplomatic authorities believe the latest case is unlikely to be linked to criminal organizations, concerns continue to mount following a recent string of kidnappings and illegal confinement cases involving Korean nationals in Cambodia.
Park’s cremated remains arrived at Incheon International Airport aboard Korean Air Flight KE690, which landed at 8:04 a.m. Tuesday — 74 days after he was found dead on Aug. 8. Jang Jin-uk, director of forensic operations at the National Police Agency and one of six Korean autopsy specialists who participated in the joint autopsy, was seen exiting the airport at 8:44 a.m. carrying the urn.
Park had told his family in July that he was traveling to Cambodia to attend a job fair. Three weeks later, his body was found inside a car near Bokor Mountain in Kampot Province. His body showed signs of bruising and other injuries consistent with torture. The joint autopsy conducted on Monday revealed no signs of organ mutilation. Until the day of repatriation, the body had been stored at Tuek Thla Pagoda in Phnom Penh.
The urn was transferred to the Gyeongbuk Provincial Police Agency and handed over to the victim’s family by Ahn Jung-man, head of the agency’s violent crimes unit, at 12:46 p.m. Park’s father and brother received the remains in tears and expressed their gratitude, according to police. Samples collected during the autopsy will undergo further tissue and toxicology testing in Korea.
Even as Park’s remains returned home, the death of another Korean national was reported in Cambodia. According to Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a man in his late 50s was found dead around 8 p.m. on Monday in a hotel room in Sihanoukville. The Korean Embassy in Cambodia dispatched a consular official to the scene upon receiving word of the death.
The man was reportedly first discovered by local police. A Korean community leader, contacted by the embassy, later confirmed the presence of the deceased’s passport, a memo believed to be a suicide note and a mobile phone at the scene. Korean authorities believe the man was not connected to any criminal compound.
Meanwhile, investigations are ongoing into 64 individuals repatriated from Cambodia on Oct. 18 in connection with voice phishing, webcam blackmail and romance scams. As of Tuesday, 48 suspects had been detained following warrant review hearings. Ten additional suspects under the jurisdiction of the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency also underwent hearings at the Uijeongbu District Court on Tuesday, with detention decisions expected later in the day.
Including one person for whom a pre-issued warrant had already been executed, a total of 49 repatriated suspects have now been taken into custody. Four suspects were released after police did not request warrants, and one suspect was released after prosecutors declined to pursue detention.
Police are also working to strengthen investigative cooperation with Southeast Asian countries, including Cambodia. During the International Police Summit held on Tuesday, Cambodia pledged to actively participate in a newly formed international cooperative body aimed at combating scam crimes in the region. The joint initiative includes measures such as cross-border investigations. Korean authorities plan to expand collaboration with other countries, like Thailand, should similar crimes begin to spread beyond Cambodia.
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.
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