A South Korean man arrested Wednesday is suspected to have been hired to murder a woman in Saigon by her business partner, both South Koreans.
Lee Hyeongwon, 29, came to Vietnam on November 1. He planned to flee the country soon after murdering 49-year-old Jung Young Sook, said Nguyen Dang Nam, head of the criminal department of Ho Chi Minh Police. VNExpress reports.
On December 21, Hyeongwon entered Sook’s home in Tan Phong Ward, District 7, Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam and killed her with a knife. Sook’s husband and 16-year-old daughter were also attacked and heavily injured, said police.
The suspect wears a mask, a light blue shirt and jeans. Courtesy of Korean Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City
They said the man had prepared carefully, seizing all the victims’ cell phones so that they could not alert anyone.
Hyeongwon then escaped the scene in a car belonging to the family and took it to an abandoned field next to Thu Thiem Bridge in District 2 of Ho Chi Minh City about 10 km away from the family’s home. He burned the car.
A car was found burned near Thu Thiem Bridge in District 2 and suspected of being in conjunction with a robbery-murder in District 7, Ho Chi Minh City, December 21, 2019. Photo: Minh Hoa / Tuoi Tre
Initial investigations have shown that Sook and her husband had business disputes with an unidentified fellow South Korean, who hired Hyeongwon to kill them.
“This is an especially serious murder,” said Tu Luong, deputy director of Ho Chi Minh City’s Department of Information and Communications, adding that more information would be revealed to the press later.
The murder first broke news last Saturday after neighbors and construction workers heard screams and alerted the police at around 2 a.m. Sook was found dead and her husband and daughter were rushed to a local hospital.
By Quoc Thang @ VNExpress
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