The Hidden Cost of Growth: Illicit Economies and Structural Loss in Southeast Asia
Amy Lim, MSc in Economic Policy for International Development After the body of 22-year-old university student Park Min-ho was discovered in the back of a pickup truck in Cambodia ① , South Korean officials announced that some 330 people had been reported missing this year after traveling to the country. Many were lured by the promise of high-paying jobs, only to be forced into defrauding other South Koreans ② , highlighting how illicit economies, including the online-scam industry, have...