Articles by Sebastian Strangio

Technology

ASEAN Foreign Ministers Voice ‘Concern’ About Ongoing Myanmar Conflict

Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have once again expressed their “deep concern” over the continuing conflict in Myanmar, and have reportedly decided against sending observers to the military regime’s planned election in late December. Since the military coup of February 2021, the civil war in Myanmar has been a perennial issue at ASEAN’s biennial summits, and the same has been true at this week’s 47th ASEAN Summit and Related Meetings in Kuala Lumpur, which began on Sunday and will come to a close today. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, speaking in his capacity as ASEAN chair, yesterday repeated calls for an “immediate ceasefire,” while U.N. Secretary General Antonio said that the generals must put an end to the deplorable violence that they have inflicted on the population since their takeover and find a credible path back to civilian government. In a statement on Sunday, ASEAN’s foreign ministers expressed their deep concern over the conflicts and dire humanitarian situation in the country,” where nearly 3.6 million people are currently displaced. They also denounced the continued acts of violence in Myanmar against civilians, public facilities, and civilian infrastructure, which have ramped up in the run-up to the election, and urged all parties involved to take concrete action to immediately halt indiscriminate violence. In the statement, the foreign ministers also reiterated our deep concern over the lack of substantive progress in the implementation of the organization’s Five-Point Consensus peace plan. The Five-Point Consensus was first agreed upon at a special ASEAN meeting in April 2021, two months after Myanmar’s coup. It called for an immediate cessation of violence, access to humanitarian aid, and inclusive political dialogue involving “all parties to the conflict.” Following a meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, ASEAN’s foreign ministers reaffirmed the Five-Point Consensus as their “main reference for addressing the political crisis in Myanmar” and urged “its full implementation to help the people of Myanmar to achieve an inclusive and durable peaceful resolution.” However, over the past four-and-a-half years, the military has largely ignored the most salient points of the Consensus, preferring to stick to its own political “roadmap.” This will culminate in the contentious election that it plans to hold in several phases beginning on December 28, which the junta hopes will rehabilitate its international reputation and lead to a resolution of the current civil war on terms favorable to its own political and economic interests. In their statement, the organization’s foreign ministers reaffirmed the bloc’s previous decision to exclude political representatives of the military junta from ASEAN summits, pending the implementation of the Consensus. (As has happened at every ASEAN summit since late 2021, the country has been represented instead by a senior bureaucrat from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.) However, ASEAN now faces the challenge of how to respond to the junta’s election, and how to engage with the military-dominated “civilian” government that will doubtless be formed in its wake. In their statement, ASEAN’s foreign ministers repeated their earlier entreaty that “the cessation of violence and inclusive political dialogue must precede elections.” They emphasized “the importance of free, fair, peaceful, transparent, inclusive, and credible general elections” – conditions that the military’s elections stand no realistic chance of fulfilling. The statement “noted” the junta’s invitation for ASEAN states to send observers to the election. However, the AFP news agency quoted an unnamed diplomat as saying that there had been no consensus as to whether to deploy an observation mission under ASEAN’s banner. “What it means is that there are no ASEAN observers, but ASEAN countries are free to send observers on a bilateral basis,” a second diplomat told the news agency. By declining to send official ASEAN observers, the bloc is effectively withholding its stamp of approval from the election, and the decision will no doubt be the subject of some minor disappointment in Naypyidaw. But with the military bent on going ahead with the election regardless of domestic and regional opinion, it remains to be seen how much difference this makes in the long run. While its expressions of concern have grown more insistent over the past few years, ASEAN’s response to the 2021 coup has been characterized above all by its reactivity. Unable or unwilling to apply more pressure on Myanmar’s military to adhere to the Five-Point Consensus, beyond the exclusion of the junta from its bloc’s summits, ASEAN has largely allowed Naypyidaw to set the terms of engagement. It has instead been left to individual member states to register their stronger feelings about the situation in Myanmar and its regional implications and to establish contacts with opposition groups like the National Unity Government – something that the junta has prevented ASEAN as a whole from doing to any meaningful degree, despite being permitted under the terms of the Five-Point Consensus. A good deal of ASEAN’s response is due to structural factors, and it is unclear whether the bloc could have taken a more proactive approach within the scope of its operating principles of consensus and non-interference. Nonetheless, this track record does suggest that ASEAN will implicitly accept the new status quo that emerges from the election, and engage with the new quasi-civilian government in order to continue pushing for the implementation of the Five-Point Consensus. In this context, the decision not to send observers marks a principled expression of discontent about the junta’s policy, but does little to shift its political calculus.

Technology

South Korea Planning Sanctions on Cambodia-based Online Scam Networks

South Korea’s government says that it is preparing to impose financial sanctions against Cambodia-based entities that have been accused of involvement in online scamming operations and related crimes. According to a report by Chosun Daily, South Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit, a part of the country’s Financial Services Commission, is reviewing measures to designate the criminal networks behind Cambodia’s explosion of online scamming centers. “We will begin financial sanctions against these groups as soon as interagency consultations are finalized,” Chosun Daily quoted on official as saying yesterday. Another Korean media report suggested that this could take place “within the month.” Currently, the groups under consideration for sanctions include the Prince Holding Group, one of Cambodia’s most prominent conglomerates, and the Cambodia-based financial services company Huione Group. Prince was the subject last week of an unprecedented joint action by the U.S. and U.K. governments, which the U.S. Treasury Department described as the “largest action ever” to disrupt Southeast Asia-based scamming operations. The U.S. government announced sanctions on 146 individuals and entities linked to Prince, including its 37-year-old chairman Chen Zhi, alleging their involvement in cyberfraud, human trafficking, and money laundering. U.S. federal prosecutors also indicted Chen for wire fraud and money laundering, seizing $15 billion worth of bitcoin linked to the Prince chairman. In a parallel announcement, Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) cut off Huione Group from the U.S. financial system, alleging that it had “laundered proceeds of virtual currency scams and heists on behalf of malicious cyber actors.” The British government simultaneously announced sanctions on six entities and individuals associated with the Prince Group and froze 19 London properties worth more than 100 million pounds ($134 million) that it had connected to the network. The announcement came shortly after a South Korean delegation led by Vice Foreign Minister Kim Jina and National Security Advisor Wi Sung-lac traveled to Cambodia to secure the release of nationals being held in scam compounds against their will. A group of 64 South Koreans were subsequently extradited from Cambodia to South Korea on Saturday. Korean officials say that most face investigation, to determine whether or not they were “voluntary” participants in online scams. In recent years, Cambodia has become a hub of online fraud operations, which are run predominantly by Chinese criminal syndicates and rely on a huge corps of trafficked workers from across the globe. Despite periodic crackdowns, these operations have flourished due to the protection of senior government officials and prominent tycoons with close links to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party. For instance, Chen Zhi, the chairman of Prince Group, has served as an advisor to former Prime Minister Hun Sen and his son Hun Manet, who took over the office of prime minister in 2023. (The Cambodian government denies any involvement in online scamming operations.) South Korean authorities estimate that about 200,000 people, including around 1,000 of their nationals, work in Cambodia's scam centers. The increased South Korean actions follow the alleged murder of a South Korean college student who was reported kidnapped in Cambodia by a crime ring. Park Min-ho, 22, was found dead in a pick-up truck in southern Cambodia on August 8. A subsequent autopsy revealed that he “died as a result of severe torture, with multiple bruises and injuries across his body.” Park’s death prompted the Korean government to issue a “code black” travel ban to some regions of Cambodia. Its Foreign Ministry also summoned the Cambodian ambassador earlier this month to voice its concerns over the continued occurrence of job scams and detention of South Korean citizens in Cambodia, and urged the Cambodian government to come up with swift and practical measures to eradicate online scams, the country’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. In a report published in June, the rights group Amnesty International described the Cambodian government’s response to the scamming scourge as “grossly inadequate” and accused it of being “complicit” in the industry’s abuses. The increased Korean attention to the issue may be an early sign that last week’s sanctions action could catalyze more robust international efforts aimed at pressuring the Cambodian government into a genuine anti-scam crackdown. While the Cambodian government has pledged cooperation on the issue – Prime Minister Hun Manet said last week that the two nations “will continue to strengthen our collaboration to prevent, suppress, and combat online scams more effectively” – its past track record of lassitude suggests reasons for skepticism.