Korean student dies in Cambodia amid kidnapping probe

A 22-year-old South Korean university student was found dead in Cambodia on Aug. 8, Cambodian authorities and South Korean investigators said, after traveling to the Southeast Asian country on July 17. Cambodian officials listed the cause of death as cardiac arrest resulting from severe torture and extreme pain, and South Korean authorities have launched a cross-border probe into an alleged kidnapping and torture by an organized criminal group.

Family members and police said the student told his family he was going to an exhibition in Cambodia before leaving. About a week after his departure, his family received a phone call from a man speaking Korean with a Chinese Korean accent who demanded 50 million won, saying the student had caused trouble and needed to be released. Communication with the alleged kidnappers ceased after several days. His body was later discovered near Bokor Mountain in Kampot Province, an area where employment scams and detentions targeting South Koreans have frequently occurred.

Repatriation of the body has been delayed amid investigative and local legal procedures. A senior official at the Gyeongbuk Provincial Police Agency, Ahn Jungman, said the...