Police have launched a pre-indictment inquiry to examine the possibility that a woman in her 20s, reported missing and found in Cambodia, was linked to a local criminal group.
According to police and others on the 14th, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Criminal Mobile Unit is verifying facts after receiving a tip that a woman in her 20s, identified as A, was a "lure" for a Cambodian crime organization. However, no concrete indications of criminal involvement have emerged yet. A police official said it is "the stage of examining whether there are actual criminal suspicions."
In Mar., police received a missing-person report from A's family saying, "A younger sibling who went to Cambodia appears to be involved in a crime." A posted Cambodia travel photos on Instagram, then asked for help saying she was "in danger," and reportedly even sent the family a photo showing severed fingers.
The North Jeolla Provincial Police Agency in charge of the case located A in Cambodia with the embassy and checked on her. However, A was moving about outside and in contact, and no signs of abduction or confinement were found, according to reports. After finding A, the North Jeolla agency closed the missing-person case, but A has not returned to Korea despite her family's request.
Although it has not been confirmed whether A was involved in the crime, some point out that certain victims of abduction and confinement in Cambodia may have actively participated in money laundering of criminal proceeds or voice phishing scams. In fact, among those whom the Korean Association in Cambodia helped rescue were people who went there knowing the job was suspicious, and some reportedly escaped, returned to Korea, and then reentered.
However, some voices caution against viewing abduction victims simply as participants in crime.