Deadly Illegal High-Paying Job Ads in Cambodia... Only One Case Reviewed

KCSC Reviewed Only One Illegal Job Advertisement by September This Year
Only One Staff Member Assigned, Zero Budget Allocated
Jo Incheol: "Overhaul of High-Paying Scam Ads Is Unavoidable"

Jo Incheol

Recently, a series of incidents have occurred overseas, including in Cambodia, where young people have been lured with promises of "high-paying part-time jobs or employment," only to be detained or forced to join criminal organizations. These events have shocked Korean society, and there has been criticism that the institutional response in charge of reviewing online posts has been extremely inadequate.

According to data on the "response to illegal job advertisements" submitted by the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) to Jo Incheol, a member of the National Assembly's Science, ICT, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea (representing Gwangju Seo-gu Gap), only one case of illegal job advertisement was reviewed as of September this year.

Of the 150 reports and cases received this year, the remaining 149 were only processed after October 16, when the issue of abduction and detention in Cambodia became a major social concern. This has led to criticism that the KCSC had essentially neglected its responsibilities until the government intervened.

In fact, according to Jo Incheol's office, even as reports of employment scams and detentions involving Koreans in Cambodia surged since last year, there were no effective measures in place to preemptively review and block illegal job advertisements.

Data submitted by the KCSC to Jo Incheol's office on the "budget and personnel status for responding to illegal job advertisements" showed that only one person was assigned to this work, and the related budget was zero won.

Under Article 44-7 of the Information and Communications Network Act, the KCSC is required to take action against information intended for criminal purposes or that incites or aids such crimes. However, illegal job advertisements have been virtually neglected compared to other illegal content such as drugs or pornography.

In particular, while the KCSC monitors more than 80,000 cases of illegal pornographic content every year and manages statistics by platform, there is not even a separate monitoring system for illegal job information.

During the National Assembly audit of the Science, ICT, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee held on this day, Jo Incheol stated, "Illegal overseas job information is an urgent issue that requires immediate response, to the extent that President Lee Jaemyung ordered an emergency review. The fact that job scam information, which causes serious social harm, has been left in a blind spot for review is a systemic failure."

He added, "The new KCSC must significantly increase its personnel and budget, and prepare fundamental improvements by revising relevant laws and regulations."

In response, Choi Kwangho, Acting Secretary General of the KCSC, acknowledged, "We admit that our response was insufficient," and explained, "There was no separate budget or personnel assigned."