The government plans to continue its consultations with Cambodia to ensure a prompt autopsy and repatriation of the remains of a South Korean university student who was killed after allegedly being kidnapped and tortured by a criminal organization in the country.

According to Seoul’s foreign ministry on Saturday, the South Korean embassy in Phnom Penh has asked local authorities to carry out a swift investigation and take stern legal action against the perpetrators, while offering consular services to the bereaved family through direct communication.

The ministry said it also sought Cambodia’s active cooperation, after a delay in internal procedures, to have a medical examiner affiliated with the Korean National Police Agency take part in the autopsy.

Local law enforcement suspects that the student, who was found dead in August in the Bokor Mountain area in Kampot Province, was tortured by a criminal gang and suffered a fatal heart attack from the pain.

Last month the Gyeongbuk Provincial Police apprehended a group of South Korean nationals who allegedly recruited the student from the province’s Yecheon area in July to travel to Cambodia under false pretenses as part of a bank fraud scheme.

The student’s family reportedly notified the South Korean police and the ministry after someone with an accent found among ethnic Koreans from China demanded more than 50 million won, or around 35-thousand U.S. dollars, claiming the student was in trouble.