A south Korean businessman was found dead in a condominium in Phnom Penh yesterday, after he stayed there with two female companions.

He is thought to have been strangled with an electrical cord.

Vith Darith, chief of Boeng Kak I commune, said yesterday that Jeong Woo Chol, 43, died at an apartment in the De Castle condominium in Tuol Kork district at about 6:30am yesterday morning.

“He died at his friend’s room in the condo. His body now has been sent to be kept at the Embassy of South Korea in Phnom Penh awaiting his family to take it for a funeral,” he said.

Tuy Bunry, a Tuol Kork police officer, said that Jeong Woo Chol came to Cambodia as a businessman earlier this year and had been staying at the Royal Palace Hotel in the district before spending one night in his friend’s condo.

Police said the victim visited two South Korean women who worked at a karaoke venue in Phnom Penh on Monday night, one of which was alleged to be his friend’s girlfriend.

The three stayed overnight together at the room in the De Castle complex.

“According to his body examination and the police’s pre-investigation, he was killed by the tightening of electric wires on his neck. His neck was purple and wounded by the electric cord,” he said.

The two South Korean women were detained yesterday for questioning in connection with the death, he said. “We still do not know about his business activity in Cambodia and we now are researching and investigating this case to arrest the killers.”