Koreans

Jan. 23 (Asia Today) — South Korean police took 73 nationals into custody Friday after they were forcibly repatriated from Cambodia on a chartered flight over alleged involvement in large-scale online scams and other crimes.

Korean Air flight KE9690 departed Phnom Penh and landed at Incheon International Airport at about 9:41 a.m., according to officials. It was South Korea’s fourth group repatriation of criminal suspects by charter flight and the largest return from a single country.

Authorities said arrest warrants had already been issued and were executed as the suspects boarded the aircraft. Under South Korea’s Nationality Act, the interior of a national carrier is treated as Korean territory for legal purposes, allowing warrants to be served during the flight process.

The suspects were then escorted from the airport to police units in multiple jurisdictions for questioning and further investigation.

Investigators allege the group defrauded about 869 South Korean victims of roughly 48.6 billion won ($33.6 million). Seventy suspects face fraud-related allegations, including romance scams and investment chat room schemes, while three are accused of other crimes including robbery and illegal gambling, officials said.

Among those repatriated was a couple accused of running a romance scam operation that used deepfake technology to pose as fictitious personas, allegedly taking about 12 billion won ($8.3 million) from 104 victims. Authorities said the pair attempted to evade capture, including by altering their appearance, and were not included in a previous repatriation in October.

Officials also cited a suspect accused of posing as an investment expert and allegedly taking about 19.4 billion won ($13.4 million), with victims including recent graduates and retirees.

Authorities said suspects were apprehended in multiple Cambodian locations and that seven scam compounds were identified. South Korean officials also said some victims, including men in their 20s who were allegedly confined and abused at the sites, were rescued.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

SEOUL, Jan. 15 (UPI) — More than three-quarters of South Koreans registered as members of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War have died without being reunited with relatives in North Korea, official government data showed Thursday.

As of Dec. 31, 2025, a total of 134,516 people had registered with South Korea’s government as separated family members, the Ministry of Unification said in its latest statistical release. Of those, 101,148 — about 75% — were confirmed dead, leaving just 34,368 survivors.

The figures highlight the rapid aging of the remaining survivors. More than 65% of living registrants are aged 80 or older, including 10,885 people aged 90 or above, the data showed.

North and South Korea have held 21 family reunions since 2000, with the most recent taking place in August 2018 during a period of inter-Korean detente. Relations have frozen over in recent years, however, and time is not on the side of family members still hoping to connect with long-lost relatives.

Since taking office in June, President Lee Jae Myung has called for restoring humanitarian cooperation with Pyongyang, identifying separated family reunions as a priority issue in efforts to stabilize inter-Korean relations.

“I believe that it is the responsibility of all political leaders in both the South and the North to ensure that these tragically separated families can confirm the fate of their relatives and, at the very least, exchange letters,” Lee said in October.

Seoul has also sought to advance humanitarian engagement through institutional measures. In December, the Ministry of Unification released a 2026 policy plan aimed at “peaceful coexistence” with North Korea, pledging to expand separated family programs such as DNA testing, video messages and efforts to confirm the status of missing relatives.

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young underscored the sense of urgency during a recent visit with elderly separated family members, including a 105-year-old man in Seoul. “Separated families represent the greatest sorrow born of national division,” Chung said, adding that “time is running out.”

North Korea has not responded to recent proposals for humanitarian exchanges, however, as inter-Korean communication channels remain dormant amid heightened tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs. In February, North Korea began dismantling the facility used for family reunions at its Mount Kumgang tourist zone, a further sign of deteriorating relations.

Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said on Tuesday that South Korea’s hopes for improved ties were an “illusion.”

“As far as Seoul’s various hope-filled wild dreams called ‘repair of (North-South) relations’ are concerned, they all can never come true,” Kim said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

Dec. 29 (Asia Today) — North Korean defector groups on Monday urged South Korea’s Unification Ministry to halt its push to replace the official term for defectors, warning that one leading alternative could be misunderstood as meaning people who “look toward” North Korea.

Five defector organizations, including the Committee for North Korean Democracy and the North Korea Strategy Center, held a news conference at the National Assembly and issued a joint statement calling for the government to stop reviewing the term change and to release the results of a public opinion survey conducted from late September to early October, organizers said.

The groups objected in particular to “Bukhyangmin,” a term the ministry has weighed as a possible replacement for “North Korean defectors.” They said the word could be confused with similar-sounding phrases that imply sympathy for North Korea, framing it as an attack on defector identity.

The dispute also intensified after Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said during a Dec. 19 work report that “all” defectors strongly reject the current term, a claim critics said overgeneralized defector views. The ministry has said Chung asked roughly 60 residents at Hanawon, a government resettlement and education center in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, during a private visit on Dec. 5 and that all those present supported a change.

At the news conference, Kang Cheol-hwan, head of the North Korea Strategy Center, questioned whether the new term would make defectors appear to be people who admire North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Other speakers argued the current term reflects “escape” from the North Korean system and symbolizes resistance to repression.

A broader umbrella group, the National Association of North Korean Defectors, also issued a separate statement demanding a public apology for what it called distorted remarks and urging the government to guarantee public deliberation if it changes terminology tied to defectors, organizers said.

The ministry has said it is reviewing whether to adjust legal terminology and social usage to reduce negative connotations and support settlement and social integration.

Previous surveys have shown mixed views among defectors. A Korea Institute for National Unification survey found about 59% of defector respondents said a change was needed, but preferences among alternatives were split, with “Hanamin,” “Tongilmin” and “Bukhyangmin” drawing similar levels of support, news reports said.

The Unification Ministry has not announced a final decision and has said it is internally reviewing whether to disclose results from its latest survey, according to local reports.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.