Travel Agency Abruptly Closes Over "Pro-North Korea Group Ties," Leaving 9,000 Victims

[Anchor]

Early last month, a travel agency well-known for youth educational tours abruptly suspended operations, citing a police investigation. Thousands of customers, who had already paid their fees entirely in cash, say they have not received refunds and have launched a class-action lawsuit.

Reporter Yoo Soo-Hwan has the story.

[Reporter]

Son Bong-seok booked a European trip for this month and a U.S. trip for February of next year through the travel agency "Andersen" in June of last year.

Having already wired all costs, including travel expenses, to the agency, he received shocking news on the 5th of last month.

The agency suddenly announced the suspension of its operations through a notice on its website.

The notice stated that "all travel is suspended" due to a police raid on their office.

Police revealed that they are indeed investigating ties between the travel agency and former and current officials of the Minjung Democracy Party who have been indicted for violations of the National Security Act.

[Son Bong-seok / Victim of Andersen Travel Agency: In my case, when I calculate it, the damage comes out to about 17 million won. They say the raid happened because of political issues, but why should I be dragged into that political battle...?]

According to a tally compiled by the victims themselves, the number of affected individuals is about 9,000, with total damages exceeding 29.5 billion won.

The scale of the damage grew as the agency sold products that required full payment in cash a year in advance in exchange for discounts.

[Victim of Andersen Travel Agency: My child is an elementary school student, and the child was so excited. We wanted to try going to France together even though we couldn't really afford it, so we made the reservation...]

Damages varied widely, ranging from cases where travelers had already set off only to have their itineraries cut short locally and having to pay extra expenses before returning home, to people being notified of cancellations at the airport just before departure.

[Son Bong-seok / Victim of Andersen Travel Agency: They were eating at Incheon Airport when they received a text message notification. It said tomorrow's trip was canceled, and it was so hard to tell the children.]

While the travel agency is currently guiding customers by stating, "We will normalize operations in two years" and "Prepaid deposits will be transferred to other travel products," the victims are demanding immediate refunds and are preparing to file a class-action lawsuit.

(Camera Reporter: Lee Chan-su | Video Editor: Lee Hong-myung)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.