Two South Koreans Sentenced in Ho Chi Minh City Murder Case

The Ho Chi Minh City People's Court on September 4 sentenced Kim Jin, 31, to life in prison and Kang Yo Han, 30, to 20 years for murder. The victim, a South Korean restaurant owner, died after Kim struck him in the head with a metal canister containing nitrous oxide. A South Korean manager at the restaurant was also attacked and survived with injuries that resulted in an 87% disability, the court heard. The incident occurred early on December 28, 2024, after Lee Chang Dae, a friend of Kim, and three other South Koreans went to the restaurant on Tran Hung Dao Street to drink and sing karaoke. At around 2:30 a.m., Lee damaged an LED screen in the karaoke room. A dispute broke out when an employee asked him to pay for the damage. The restaurant owner and manager went to the room to resolve the dispute, but a fight followed. The manager called police, while one of Lee's friends contacted Kim and told him the group "had gotten into trouble." Kim then asked Kang to accompany him to the restaurant. The two had been drinking at a nearby pub on Bui Vien Street. By the time they arrived, local police and security personnel were already at the restaurant. Kim allegedly grabbed a rubber baton from a patrol member before entering the room with Kang. The two then locked the door and attacked the owner and manager. Kim struck the owner in the head with the nitrous oxide canister, causing him to collapse. He had died by the time police broke into the room. At trial, Kim admitted attacking the victims but said he could not clearly remember what happened. He said he did not know why his friends were in trouble when he received the message. "I was not in a sober state at the time of the incident," he told the court. The jury board said the defendants had committed the crime in a violent manner and caused "particularly serious consequences." It also said they had attacked two people despite not knowing the reason for the original dispute. Kim received the heavier sentence because he was the one who asked Kang to go to the restaurant. The court also ordered the defendants to jointly pay more than VND5 billion (US$190,000) to the deceased's family and more than VND3 billion to the injured manager, after deducting more than VND1.3 billion already paid in compensation. Both men apologized to the victims and their families in their final statements.