Incidents involving South Koreans in 10 nations under travel advisory rise 50 pc: Govt

Seoul: The number of accidents and incidents involving South Korean nationals in 10 major countries under Seoul's travel advisory rose nearly 50 per cent in 2025 from the previous year, data showed on Sunday.

In the 10 countries for which Seoul issued travel advisories the most over the past five years, the cases of accidents and incidents involving South Korean nationals came to 4,016 in 2025, up 48.3 per cent from 2024, according to the data from the foreign ministry and the National Police Agency, to Rep. Kim Joon-hwan of the ruling Democratic Party.

The countries are Russia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cambodia, Thailand, China, El Salvador, Mexico, Lebanon, Iran and Laos.

Cases of losing contact saw the sharpest rise, increasing to 617 in 2025 from the previous year's 248, the data showed.

Kidnapping and confinement more than doubled to 553 last year from 246 in 2024. Cases of suspected missing jumped nearly five times to 188 in 2025, reports Yonhap news agency, citing the data.

By country, accidents and incidents involving Koreans increased the most in China, with such cases rising to 1,580 from the previous year's 1,133.

In Cambodia, such cases rose from 569 to 917 last year, accounting for 43.5 per cent of the total on-year increase among the 10 countries, the latest findings showed.

A police unit in Cambodia exclusively dedicated to crimes involving South Koreans, known as the Korea desk, was launched last November in a bid to cope with rising crimes targeting Koreans, such as online scams.

Eight South Koreans have since been rescued and 107 nabbed in a joint crackdown on scam crimes in Cambodia.

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