Travel Agency Abruptly Closes Over Alleged Ties to 'Pro-North Entity,' Leaving 9,000 Victims

[Anchor]

A well-known youth educational travel agency abruptly suspended its operations early last month. Citing a police seizure of its offices, the agency has left thousands of customers unable to recover advance payments made in cash, prompting them to launch a class-action lawsuit.

Reporter Yoo Soo-Hwan has the details.

[Reporter]

Son Bong-seok booked a trip to Europe for this month and another to the United States for February of next year through the travel agency Andersen back in June of last year.

Having already wired all travel expenses and other costs to the agency, he received shocking news on August 5.

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

The message stated that all tours were being canceled due to a police raid on the company's offices.

Police confirmed they are indeed investigating ties between the travel agency and current and former officials of the Minjung Democracy Party who have been indicted on charges of violating the National Security Act.

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

According to an independent tally by the victims, the number of affected individuals is approximately 9,000, with total damages exceeding 29.5 billion won.

The scale of the damage grew as the agency sold packages requiring full cash payments a year in advance in exchange for discounts.

[Andersen Travel Agency Victim: My child is an elementary school student, and the kid was so excited. We wanted to go to France together even though things are tight financially, so we made the reservation...]

Victims have suffered in various ways—ranging from those who had already set off on their trips only to have their itineraries cut short locally, forcing them to cover extra expenses out of pocket before returning, to those who were notified of cancellations at the airport just before departure.

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

The travel agency has been instructing customers that it will "normalize operations in two years" and "transfer advance payments to other travel products," but victims are demanding immediate refunds and preparing to file a class-action lawsuit.

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