President Lee Jae Myung urged the government to take “extraordinary measures” to combat escalating international voice phishing schemes, calling them a form of organized transnational fraud.

Chairing a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office in Seoul's Yongsan District, Lee said the crimes were “unlikely to disappear soon” and even “rumored to involve state-level complicity,” stressing the need for stronger countermeasures.

He ordered ministries to secure all necessary personnel and resources, directing intelligence and law enforcement agencies to rethink their approach to international scam networks.

Lee said he had already instructed the National Intelligence Service to coordinate with police and prosecutors, and also called for a review of structural responses to drug-related crimes linked to such scams.

He questioned the slow rollout of an app-based call-blocking system, arguing that users should be automatically protected unless they explicitly opt out.

“Voice phishing destroys lives—it’s effectively a one-trillion-won-a-year disaster,” he said, adding that the government must respond “not routinely, but as if in a state of emergency.”