A forensic pathologist from the National Forensic Service (NFS) will be dispatched to Cambodia to perform an autopsy on the body of a Korean college student who died there.
According to police and others on Oct. 15, the Korean National Police Agency and the NFS will form a joint investigation team and dispatch one forensic pathologist and two public health officials to Cambodia. They will perform an autopsy on the body of a college student, a person surnamed Park (22) from Yecheon County, North Gyeongsang, on site.
The NFS autopsy team is expected to conduct this autopsy on its own. Two NFS-affiliated officials who will assist with the autopsy will also be dispatched to Cambodia.
After the autopsy, Park's body is expected to be repatriated to Korea following consultations with the Cambodian authorities. An official at the Korean National Police Agency said, "The handover of the body requires a consultation process with the Cambodian authorities, and due to administrative procedures, it appears it will take some time before it is brought to Korea."
Park departed for Cambodia on Jul. 17, saying to family that "I will visit a local expo," and was found dead near Bokor Mountain in Kampot on Aug. 8. In a pre-autopsy external examination, local police presumed the cause of death to be "cardiac arrest due to torture." Park's body is currently being kept frozen at a temple in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.
Earlier, Vice Minister Lee Jin-su of the Ministry of Justice attended the Korea-ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime held in Malaysia in Sep. At the time, the Vice Minister met with a Vice Minister at the Cambodian Ministry of Interior and was said to have requested cooperation so that Korea could participate in Park's autopsy process.