South Korea stops its citizens from travelling to Golden Triangle region in Laos

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SEOUL: South Korea has decided to stop all its citizens from travelling to the “Golden Triangle” region in Laos where criminal activities are infamous and persisting, commencing from next month, the foreign ministry said Thursday.

South Korea government will issue the Level 4 travel alert which is the highest in the government’s four-tier travel advisory system, for the region effectively from Feb 1, Yonhap News Agency reported via the foreign ministry.

The Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone, located along the Mekong River in the Laos province of Bokeo, is generally known for its illegal activities of fraudulence and human trafficking.

The decision to raise the advisory came as South Koreans have been subject to multiple crimes despite a Level 3 alert being issued for the region since Nov 24, the ministry said.

The atrocity committed in the region involved deceiving victims to be an employee of a bogus local company and forcing them to do voice phishing scams, prostitution or other illegal activities. The victims would consequently be held captive and physically assaulted if they refused to follow the request, the report said.

In addition, South Korea would extend the travel ban for another six months in eight countries and six regions, citing the risk of terrorism and unstable security.

The travel ban will be extended for Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Libya, Ukraine and Sudan, as well as parts of the Philippines, Russia, Belarus, Gaza, Myanmar and the border area between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The bans that were supposed to end on Jan 31 have been prolonged by Korean authorities until July 31.

韓國禁止本國公民前往寮國金三角地區

首爾：韓國外交部週四表示，韓國決定從下個月開始，禁止所有公民前往犯罪活動臭名昭著且持續存在的寮國「金三角」地區。

根據韓聯社報道，韓國政府將從 2 月 1 日起對該地區發布 4 級旅遊警報，這是政府四級旅遊諮詢系統中最高的。

金三角經濟特區位於寮國博膠省湄公河沿​​岸，以欺詐和人口販賣等非法活動而聞名

該部表示，儘管自 11 月 24 日起對該地區發布了 3 級警報，但韓國人仍遭受多起犯罪，因此決定提出這項建議。

該地區發生的暴行涉及欺騙受害者成為當地一家假冒公司的員工，並強迫他們進行語音網路釣魚詐騙、賣淫或其他非法活動。 報導稱，如果受害者拒絕遵守要求，他們將被囚禁並遭受人身攻擊。

此外，韓國還將八個國家和六個地區的旅行禁令再延長六個月，理由是恐怖主義風險和安全不穩定。

旅行禁令將延長至索馬利亞、阿富汗、伊拉克、葉門、敘利亞、利比亞、烏克蘭和蘇丹，以及菲律賓、俄羅斯、白俄羅斯、加薩、緬甸的部分地區以及亞美尼亞和亞塞拜然之間的邊境地區。

韓國當局將原定於 1 月 31 日結束的禁令延長至 7 月 31 日。