Former Korean National Police Agency(KNPA) Commissioner General Kim Chang-ryong has been named the South Korean ambassador to Cambodia amid a rise in online crimes involving South Koreans.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Kim’s appointment on Friday, reflecting the government’s intent to strengthen exchange and cooperation between the investigative authorities of the two countries, including the establishment of a so-called Korea Task Force in Cambodia.

Kim, who graduated from the Korean National Police University, headed the Seoul Eunpyeong Police Station, the Women and Youth Division at the Seoul Metropolitan Police and the Community Safety & Traffic Bureau of the KNPA.

He also has experience with overseas missions, having served as consul in São Paulo and counselor and consul in the United States.

The former ambassador to Turkiye, Jeong Yeon-doo, will fill the vice-ministerial-level post overseeing the Office of Strategy and Intelligence, which is heading negotiations on North Korea’s nuclear program. 

Deputy minister-level appointments were also announced. Park Il, former ambassador to Lebanon, will step in as the ministry’s new spokesperson; Lim Sang-woo, formerly deputy chief of mission at the South Korean embassy in New Delhi, was named public diplomacy ambassador; and Kyun Jong-ho, South Korea's consul general in Vancouver, will become the next ambassador for climate change.