PHNOM PENH, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Some 80 South Korean nationals have been held by Cambodia's General Department of Immigration, and they declined to go back to their country, a Cambodian spokesperson said on Tuesday.
The 80 South Korean nationals refused to go back to South Korea, although South Korean officials have approached them, Cambodia's Interior Ministry Spokesperson Touch Sokhak told Xinhua.
"This is the initial information I have received," he said. "I don't know whether the 80 missing persons reported by South Korean media outlets are the same 80 persons held by the General Department of Immigration or not."
His remarks came after South Korean media outlets, citing their Ministry of Foreign Affairs, claimed that around 80 South Korean nationals in Cambodia remained unaccounted for as of August. ■