By Diplomacy Journal Kayla Lee

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, currently visiting Cambodia, paid a courtesy call on Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet on Nov. 10 and subsequently held a luncheon meeting with Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn.

This visit marks the first by a South Korean Foreign Minister to Cambodia in three years and was arranged as a follow-up to the Korea-Cambodia Summit held in Malaysia on October 27.

During his meeting with Prime Minister Hun Manet, Minister Cho highly commended the swift establishment of the 'Korea-Cambodia Joint Task Force for Koreans' (abbreviated as the ‘Joint Task Force’) agreed upon by the two leaders had been swiftly launched under Prime Minister Hun Manet's leadership.

He expressed hope that cooperation between the two countries to protect our citizens and combat transnational crimes such as online scams would be further strengthened through this Joint Task Force.

Prime Minister Hun Manet stated that last month's Korea-Cambodia summit was highly successful. He emphasized that Cambodia is also making active efforts at the national level to eradicate transnational crimes such as scam crimes.

He appreciated Korea's relevant support for this purpose and stressed that regional and multilateral cooperation to eradicate transnational crimes in the region is also important, calling for continued cooperation for this as well.

Both sides agreed to strengthen their strategic partnership through effective responses to transnational crimes, the immediate challenge, and to explore ways to expand cooperation in all areas, including trade, investment, and labor, ahead of the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations the year after next.

Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn also stated that, as agreed at the Korea-Cambodia summit, the Cambodian government will actively strive to resolve the issue of Korean nationals involved in scam crimes within Cambodia.

He expressed hope that the bilateral relationship, which has developed remarkably over the 30 years since the resumption of diplomatic ties, will overcome current difficulties through close cooperation and further advance the strategic partnership.