During a cabinet meeting with key officials at the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul, Lee urged officials to "promptly mobilize all available resources to secure the safety of South Korean citizens in Cambodia."
His remarks came after the recent revelation that a South Korean college student who visited the Southeast Asian country after being lured by an online employment scam in August was later found to have been tortured to death.
"Related ministries and government agencies should establish a regular communication channel between the security authorities of the two countries," Lee said, adding that all South Korean nationals kidnapped in Cambodia should be promptly located and brought home.
To prevent similar incidents, he also stressed the need to tighten travel restrictions in areas with a high risk of crime. Last Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs raised advisory levels for Phnom Penh, urging visitors to cancel or postpone trips to the Cambodian capital unless travel is urgent.
Lee also called for ensuring sufficient staffing and budget allocations for embassies abroad so they can provide timely assistance to South Koreans in need.
With the country's ambassadorial post to Cambodia vacant for more than three months, Seoul has been in consultations with Phnom Penh to increase the number of police officers at the embassy there, which currently has just three personnel, and to establish a dedicated task force within the Cambodian police to handle crime cases involving South Koreans.
Cambodia has reportedly become a hub for multinational crime rings that kidnap victims and force them into online scams and phishing schemes.
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