With regard to Cambodia, where crimes such as the kidnapping and confinement of Koreans have recently surged, Minister Yoon Ho-jung of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety said, "We plan to actively respond to requests to increase related personnel."
Minister Yoon answered this way to criticism from Yang Bu-nam, a lawmaker with the Democratic Party of Korea, at the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee audit on the 14th that "the Ministry of the Interior and Safety rejected last year a request to increase staff stationed in Cambodia, which is directly tied to the lives of the public and overseas Koreans."
Minister Yoon said, "There are currently three police officers in Cambodia: only one is a regular resident officer, and two are liaison officers temporarily dispatched," adding, "It is true that there was a request last year to add one more resident officer." At the time, the ministry reportedly disapproved the request on the grounds that "the increase in workload due to incidents did not reach the level requiring more personnel."
Minister Yoon said, "There was also a request to increase personnel this year, and we will actively respond to it," adding, "Given the president's special directive to install a 'Korea Desk' in Cambodia, as in Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam, to protect the public from crime, we are carrying that out accordingly."
Cases of kidnapping and confinement of Koreans that occurred in Cambodia were ▲2 in 2021 ▲11 in 2022 ▲21 in 2023 ▲221 in 2024 ▲213 in the first half of this year.