November 28, 2025
SEOUL – The South Korean government on Thursday imposed its largest-ever unilateral sanctions on 132 organizations and 15 individuals tied to Cambodia-based transnational criminal networks that targeted South Korean citizens.
The measure came as part of a whole-of-government effort to address a rapid surge in the number of South Koreans lured to Cambodia by fraudulent high-paying job offers and subjected to associated violent crimes, including kidnappings and forced confinement in criminal compounds.
“This government measure is our country’s first unilateral sanctions in response to transnational crime and the largest single sanctions action to date,” the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
A Foreign Ministry official further explained on condition of anonymity that “this measure identifies and sanctions individuals and entities linked to transnational criminal organizations in Southeast Asia that have inflicted real harm on South Korean citizens.”
The sanctions list includes a total of 128 entities linked to the Prince Group, a transnational criminal organization headquartered in Phnom Penh. The group created and operated large-scale scam compounds such as the Taizi Compound and Mango Compound, where many South Koreans were lured and held.
The Cambodia-based Huione Group and its three subsidiaries, which were involved in laundering funds for transnational criminal networks, including the Prince Group, were also blacklisted.
In October, the US and UK sanctioned the Prince Group as a transnational criminal organization, while the US Treasury in the same month blacklisted the Huione Group as a “primary money laundering concern.”
South Korea also blacklisted Prince Group chairman Chen Zhi and 12 of its members, along with China’s Han Chenghao, who is accused of leading a Bohai-based scam ring, and China’s Li Guanghao, the key suspect in the assault and killing of a South Korean student. The case heightened alarm over Korea-targeted violent crimes in Cambodia after the victim’s body was found there in August.