Reported incidents involving South Koreans in ten advisory countries rise 48.3%
Reported accidents and incidents involving South Korean nationals rose to 4,016 in 2025 across ten countries that had drawn the most South Korean travel advisories over the preceding five years. The total was 1,308 higher than the 2,708 recorded in 2024, an increase of 48.3 per cent.
The figures were supplied to lawmaker Kim Joon-hwan by South Korea’s Foreign Ministry and National Police Agency. They cover Russia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cambodia, Thailand, China, El Salvador, Mexico, Lebanon, Iran and Laos. The selection reflects where travel advisories had been issued most frequently over five years. It is not a count of every case involving South Koreans abroad, nor does it mean that every case in the total was a crime.
The largest increase by type was in cases where contact was lost. That category rose from 248 in 2024 to 617 last year. Reported kidnapping and confinement cases more than doubled, increasing from 246 to 553. Reports classed as suspected disappearances rose from 39 to 188. Those labels describe the way cases were recorded in the data; they do not establish the outcome of each individual report.
Other categories also form part of the overall total. Reports involving lost passports or personal belongings rose from 730 to 1,080. The breadth of the categories matters when reading the headline increase. The 4,016 figure combines safety-related reports with incidents such as losses, so it should not be treated as a measure of violent crime or confirmed victimisation alone.
China had the highest country total in the group, with 1,580 reported cases in 2025, compared with 1,133 a year earlier. Thailand recorded 1,101, up from 755. Cambodia’s total rose from 348 to 917, an increase of 569 cases. That rise accounted for 43.5 per cent of the overall increase across the ten countries.
The Cambodia figures show why the increase there drew particular attention. Recorded kidnapping and confinement cases rose from 221 to 510. Reports of suspected disappearances increased from nine to 170, while lost-contact reports went from 52 to 124. These are reported case categories, not findings that every missing-contact or suspected-disappearance report involved an abduction, nor proof of what happened in any specific case.
A Korea desk was established in Cambodia to focus on crimes involving South Koreans. Its reported enforcement activity included the rescue of eight South Koreans from scam compounds and the apprehension of 107 people in joint action against scam-related crime. Those figures relate to that operation and should not be added to, or confused with, the annual incident total.
The data also underline the limits of a single aggregate number. Travel advisories are issued in response to a range of security and safety concerns, while the recorded reports cover a wide range of events. The figures do not show how many incidents were resolved, how many reports were later reclassified, or the number of South Korean visitors and residents in each country. They therefore provide a warning about the volume and type of cases reported, rather than a direct comparison of personal risk for any individual traveller.
Kim has called on the Foreign Ministry and National Police Agency to strengthen protection and consular assistance when it is needed. For people planning to travel, the practical point is to check the latest official advice for a destination before departure and to keep contact arrangements clear with family or friends. The newly reported data do not change an advisory level by themselves, but they highlight the importance of understanding both local conditions and the support available if something goes wrong.
