President Lee Jae Myung has visited the office of a pan-government task force formed to tackle transnational crimes and conveyed words of encouragement.

During the visit on Monday, the president was briefed that the number of reports of scams such as voice phishing had dropped sharply since the launch of the task force. 

Lee instructed the task force to take stricter steps in response to scams based abroad, as they are becoming more sophisticated.

In particular, the president called on the team to let it be clearly known, via cooperation with media outlets in Southeast Asia, that criminals targeting South Koreans will face ruin. 

In a video call Monday, Lee also conveyed words of encouragement to task force members operating in Cambodia and vowed active support for the members there. 

The task force, comprising ten agencies, recently set in motion the repatriation of 73 South Korean nationals suspected of swindling tens of billions of won from other South Koreans through online scams operated by crime rings in Cambodia.