Another 'money mule' recruiter nabbed over alleged involvement in college student's death in Cambodia

▲ This photo, taken Oct. 14, 2025, shows a gated building presumed to be a crime unit for criminal gangs in Cambodia's Sihanoukville. (Yonhap)

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Another 'money mule' recruiter nabbed over alleged involvement in college student's death in Cambodia

ANDONG/YECHEON, South Korea, Oct. 17 (Yonhap) -- Police said Friday they have arrested another individual suspected of recruiting so-called "money mules," as part of their investigation into the death of a South Korean college student in Cambodia earlier this year.

The student was found dead near Bokor Mountain in Cambodia on Aug. 8, about a month after he left for the Southeast Asian country in July. Cambodian authorities listed cardiac arrest caused by torture and extreme physical pain as the official cause of death.

The Gyeongbuk Provincial Police Agency said it detained the man in his 20s on charges of leading a recruitment ring that allegedly tricked the victim into leaving the country.

The suspect is accused of working with a previously indicted man surnamed Hong, also in his 20s, who was already under arrest for facilitating mule bank accounts.

In response to mounting public anger over the student's death, the South Korean government dispatched a joint response team to Cambodia to address growing concerns over crimes targeting its nationals.

Earlier in the day, a chartered flight departed from Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, to repatriate approximately 60 South Koreans who had been detained in Cambodia for alleged involvement in online scam operations.

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