Father of missing Korean man in Cambodia says embassy told him ‘your son must report it himself’

A view of the Dalseo Police Station in Daegu. Courtesy of Dalseo Police Station

As Korean authorities continue investigating the recent death of a 22-year-old student in Cambodia, another case has emerged, this time involving a man in his 30s from Daegu who disappeared shortly after arriving in the Southeast Asian country.

According to Daegu’s Dalseo Police Station on Monday, the family of a 34-year-old man surnamed Yang filed a missing person report after losing contact with him two days earlier.

Yang had left Korea on Oct. 9, telling his family he would spend “two to three weeks in Cambodia to pay off borrowed money.” Before boarding his flight to Phnom Penh, he sent a photo of his ticket and remained in touch during his first two days abroad.

“He messaged us that he’d arrived at his accommodation and was heading to the office the next morning,” Yang’s father said.

But contact abruptly stopped around 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 11, when Yang wrote, “Things are going slowly. I’m working with some Chinese people — I’ll contact you again later.” He has not been heard from since.

Yang’s father tried calling repeatedly through KakaoTalk but never got a response. Growing desperate, he phoned the Korean Embassy in Cambodia, only to be told that his son must report his own situation directly.

Screenshots show the KakaoTalk messages exchanged between Yang’s father and his son, left, and a Telegram message the father sent to explain how to file a report. Courtesy of Yang's father

“The embassy said the person in question must report their location and situation directly,” the father said. The embassy’s website, updated in September, instructs victims of job scam or confinement cases to submit details via Telegram — including their location, contact information, photos of the building, passport copy, recent photo and a short video stating they need help.

Feeling helpless, Yang’s father filed a missing person report with local police on the morning of Oct. 12. “I never imagined something like this could happen to my son. I just hope he’s alive and can come home,” he told the Hankook Ilbo.

A police official said, “We are following standard procedures to notify the Foreign Ministry and related authorities,” but declined to share further details, citing the ongoing investigation.

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.