Korean authorities have pledged to conduct an immediate investigation into the murder of a young Vietnamese bride by her Korean husband in Jeognto District in Kyeongsang Province on May 24.
A representative from Korean Association offers monetary support to the victim’s family on May 25. (Photo:SGGP)
The Vietnamese Embassy in South Korea has identified the woman as Hoang Thi Nam, 23, from the Thang Hai Commune in Phan Thiet City of Binh Thuan Province.
The Korean police immediately arrested her husband, Lim Chae Won, 37 and charged him for murder.
Lim admitted to the police that he had stabbed Nam while she was attempting to leave the house. He said Nam had asked for a divorce many times after moving to Korea with him in August 2010.
Colleagues and friends of Lim described him as a normal and sensible person.
Park Hae Yun, Director of South Asia and Pacific Division of the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade visited the Vietnamese Embassy in Korea on May 24 to offer his condolences.
Mr. Park emphasized that the Korean Government will carry out an investigation into the killing of the young Vietnamese bride and will keep their Vietnamese counterparts updates on the developments.
The journal ‘Daejeon daily’ likened the incident to a similar incident in Busan where a husband killed a Vietnamese woman ten months ago. The journal gave marital discord as reason.
According to Yonhap News Agency, neighbours called the police after hearing Lim kick at the neighbour’s door and shout out that he had killed his wife. When officers arrived at Lim’s house, they found the couple’s 19-day-old baby lying next to his bleeding mother and his father brandishing a knife outside the house.
An authority said that Korea had failed to tighten control over matchmaking organisations that are responsible for checking the backgrounds of both Korean and Vietnamese couples-to-be.
On May 25, the Korean Association in Ho Chi Minh City met with Nam’s family to offer condolence and offered a grant of US$3,000. Nam’s mother left for Korea on the same day.
Nam’s mother said two days ago, Nam had called her and said that everything was normal but she lamented that it was hard for her to live with her mother-in-law anymore.
Baik Seung Kyu, a representative from the Korean Association said that the association would try their best to help Nam’s family to overcome the loss.
The Vietnamese Embassy sent a representative to the site to get an autopsy report of the victim’s body and coordinate with local authorities with the necessary procedures while also identifying Nam’s records and native village.
The Vietnamese government is concerned of its citizens living and working in Korea, including those Vietnamese who have married there.
In view of a spate of recent incidents involving Vietnamese brides married to Koreans, high-ranking leaders from Vietnam have asked Korea to strengthen measures to protect Vietnamese citizens in the country, especially vulnerable Vietnamese brides.
The Korean government has set up a working committee that includes representatives of relevant ministries and agencies, to reorganise and monitor inter-nation marriage
bureaus to protect foreign brides legally in multi-cultural families.
