Amid a surge in crimes targeting Korean nationals in Cambodia, South Korean influencer Hwang Hana, 37 ― wanted on an Interpol Red Notice in connection with drug charges ― has reportedly relocated from Thailand to Phnom Penh and is laying low, according to local reports.
Multiple outlets have said Hwang, who had been staying in Thailand to avoid a police probe, decamped to Phnom Penh and has been keeping out of sight. A person who claims to have met her earlier this year said Hwang was living in a luxury mixed-use complex with a sizable Chinese expat community and told them she was pregnant, adding her belly appeared to show. Her pregnancy has not been confirmed.
Hwang’s current boyfriend has been identified by acquaintances as a businessman surnamed Kim, whose primary line of work is mergers and acquisitions. Another source said Mr. Kim helped her move from Bangkok to Cambodia.
One acquaintance added that even while trying to dodge investigators in Bangkok, Hwang still partied with the city’s “hi-so” (high-society) crowd and occasionally mingled with visiting Korean celebrities and influencers.
Police say they have confirmed Hwang is overseas and are working with Interpol to take her into custody, but her exact whereabouts remain unknown.
News of her alleged hideout comes as crimes against Koreans in Cambodia have spiked. South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently issued a special travel advisory for 11 regions, including Phnom Penh, following a string of kidnapping, confinement and assault cases. From January to August this year, 330 kidnapping reports involving Korean nationals were filed ― an increase of more than 50% year over year.
Hwang, a social media personality who drew attention as the granddaughter of a major conglomerate’s founder, was indicted for methamphetamine use from 2015 to 2019 alongside then-boyfriend K-pop star Park Yu-chun and received a one-year prison sentence suspended for two years in 2019. While on probation, she was arrested again in 2021 on additional meth and theft charges, and in 2022 the Supreme Court finalized a one-year, eight-month prison term. After her release, she was linked to an investigation into a late actor’s alleged drug use in 2023 and, while under preliminary inquiry, left for Thailand in 2024, leading to the Interpol notice and her ongoing flight abroad.
(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Kyung-youn)