Korean politician: Scam warning should have been in Chinese; ambassador notes criminals ‘don’t speak English or Korean’

Jang Dong-hyeok, a senior member of South Korea’s People Power Party, has criticised South Korean President Lee's post, which was in Khmer. FB

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A South Korean opposition party member has stated that South Korean President Lee Jae-myung should have written a recently deleted warning to scam gangs in Chinese, not Khmer. The new South Korean ambassador to Cambodia joined the discussion, saying that Lee wrote in Khmer because the criminal groups do not speak English or Korean.

The message by Lee — “If you dare to touch Koreans, you will be ruined… This is not a playful threat! South Korea, if it says it will do something, will do it to the end!” was subsequently deleted, but continues to affect Cambodia’s reputation, with several major media outlets picking up on the story, including the South China Morning Post.

Korean paper The Chosun Daily quoted Jang Dong-hyeok, a senior member of the People Power Party, as saying that Lee should have written in Chinese, not Khmer, because the criminal groups are predominantly Chinese nationals.

Kang Yu-jung, a spokesperson for Lee, claimed that the message was deleted [because] “it had already been widely promoted”.

Kim Chang-ryong, the newly appointed South Korean ambassador to Cambodia, weighed in. He was quoted by The Chosun Daily as telling Cambodian officials that “The warning was made in Khmer because the criminal groups do not know English or Korean”.

The ambassador met with Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Prak Sokhonn yesterday, February 2. They discussed additional cooperation to crack down on online scams but did not mention Lee’s Khmer-language message, according to a press release from the foreign ministry.

-Phnom Penh Post-
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