Old Seoul protest falsely linked to Cambodia scam centre death

The clip, showing protesters waving Cambodian and South Korean flags, was shared on Facebook on October 15, 2025.

Superimposed Thai-language text and the video's caption claim it shows Cambodian workers in South Korea attempting to distance their country from the torture and killing of a Korean college student (archived link).

"Cambodian workers in South Korea gathered to march and hold signs demanding justice. They claimed Cambodia had nothing to do with the murder of the South Korean student -- it was done by Chinese gang members," the caption says.

The student, reportedly kidnapped and tortured by a crime ring, was found dead in a pickup truck on August 8.

Three Chinese nationals were charged with murder and online fraud on August 11 and remain in pre-trial detention, according to a Cambodian court statement.

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Screenshot of the false Facebook post captured on October 17, 2025, with a red X added by AFP

The clip was also shared in similar Facebook, TikTok and Instagram posts as Seoul banned travel to parts of Cambodia and sent a team to the Southeast Asian country to discuss cases of fake jobs and scam centres involved in kidnapping dozens of its nationals.

Seoul has said about 1,000 South Koreans were estimated to be among a total of around 200,000 people working in scam operations in Cambodia, a multibillion-dollar illicit industry that has ballooned in recent years (archived link).

Comments on the circulating posts indicated users believed it showed Cambodian workers distancing their country from the student's killing.

"There are many pieces of evidence, yet you say Cambodia is innocent?" read a comment on one of the posts.

Another said: "Send them all back to Cambodia. Don't leave anyone left behind. They're such a burden on South Korea."

But as of October 21, there have been no official reports of Cambodian workers protesting about their country being blamed for the Korean student's killing.

Border clash protest

A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to the same footage in a TikTok post from July 27 (archived link).

Its Khmer-language caption says it shows a protest in South Korea on July 27 to "condemn Thailand's military aggression against Cambodia".

At the time, the Southeast Asian neighbours were engaged in intense border clashes that killed at least 43 people and displaced over 300,000 (archived link). Both sides blamed the other for starting the fighting, which erupted near two temples on the border.

Thailand and Cambodia agreed to a truce starting July 29 (archived link).

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Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (left) and the TikTok post from July 2025 (right)

The same video was also posted on the user's Facebook page on the same day (archived link). AFP reached out to the user for more details about the footage but did not receive a response.

Elements of the video match Google Street View imagery of the Bosingak Bell Pavilion in Seoul's Jongno District (archived link). Cambodian residents staged a rally on the site on July 27 to condemn Thailand, according to an article in The Chosun Daily newspaper (archived link).

The Chosun Daily article added that foreign nationals were using public spaces in South Korea's capital to spotlight struggles back home, using placards written in Hangeul rather than Khmer.

There were also reports of protests by the Cambodian diaspora elsewhere in South Korea, as well as in the United States and Australia (archived link).

AFP previously debunked a slew of misinformation triggered by the Thailand and Cambodia conflict.