SEOUL, Feb 4 — Police authorities of South Korea and Malaysia today signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) designed to strengthen cooperation to clamp down on transnational crimes, such as online scams, officials said.

Yoo Jae-seong, acting commissioner general of the National Police Agency, and his Malaysian counterpart, Mohd Khalid Ismail, signed the preliminary document on the sidelines of their talks held in Seoul, Yonhap News Agency reported.

Under the MOU, the two sides agreed to swiftly share information on transnational crimes, such as scam complexes in Southeast Asia, and work together on joint police operations, such as the arrest and repatriation of fugitives.

Yoo also asked for Malaysia to join a South Korea-led global investigative body launched last October, officials said, noting Ismail pledged to review measures for cooperation to combat new types of cybercrime.

South Korean police have recently sought to better address crimes targeting its nationals in Southeast Asia in the wake of reports of abductions and confinement of South Koreans in Cambodia in connection with criminal rings and scam centres based in the country. — Bernama