Lee renews warning against transnational scams in Cambodia

This photo shows South Korean suspects boarding an airplane in Phnom Penh International Airport in Cambodia bound for South Korea on Jan. 23. (Korean National Police Agency)

President Lee Jae Myung on Friday renewed his warning of transnational organized crimes to defraud South Koreans by hiring South Korean criminal gangs, after a series of repatriation operations led by Seoul.

"If you dare to mess with South Koreans, it will ruin you and your family," wrote Lee on his X account in both Korean and Cambodian on Friday morning. "Did it look like I was joking around? South Korea will go on until the end, once we promise to do so."

The liberal president cited an OhMyNews article Thursday that was headlined "Police raids ... prompt Chinese organized crimes to balk at hiring South Korean members."

Friday's post resonates with Lee's remarks in October, when he vowed to destroy international criminal gangs if they harm South Koreans during a meeting with his government officials on growing transnational crimes.

His administration has also dispatched the South Korean police force to Southeast Asia, leading to rounds of massive repatriations of South Korean criminals from the scam compounds.

A screen grab of President Lee Jae Myung's X post

A series of reported abductions, forced labor and tragic deaths last year prompted the Lee administration in October to take actions to curb the rise in South Korean abductions to transnational scam compounds, as well as their scamming activities to swindle money out of South Korean victims.

Back in October, Lee called for pangovernmental measures and ordered his government to "go all out in terms of diplomacy" to combat crimes against South Koreans.

A "Korean Desk" was launched in Cambodia in November. It is a help desk within a Cambodian police station where seven South Korean police officers and 12 Cambodian officers team up to handle cases involving Korean nationals.

According to the Korean National Police Agency, the Korean Desk operation has allowed police to nab 136 suspects and rescue four abductees until Wednesday.

Among them were 73 South Koreans repatriated to South Korea at once on Jan. 23. They were accused of swindling 48.6 billion won ($33.8 million) combined from 869 Korean victims.