A man in his fifties surnamed Son told the Korea JoongAng Daily he had just cancelled a December golf trip with friends to Phnom Penh. “It’s a waste to lose the cancellation fee,” he said, “but I just can’t bring myself to go to Cambodia right now.”
Concerns have deepened after recent reports about a 22-year-old South Korean college student who was found dead in August in Cambodia’s Kampot province. Authorities said he died of cardiac arrest after being tortured at a compound linked to online scam operations.
In an online community for sharing Southeast Asia travel information, one user wrote: “I was planning to take my child to Angkor Wat for a history lesson, but I’ll have to give up on that for now.”
On Wednesday, South Korea issued a “code-black” travel ban for parts of Cambodia linked to scam operations.