Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam — On Thursday, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court sentenced 42-year-old South Korean national Lim Young Kwon to death for the murder of his biological father.
Lim, who lived in District 7’s Tân Phú Ward with his Vietnamese wife, identified as N.T.M., and their two children, was involved in a tragic family incident in March 2024.
According to court documents, a domestic dispute between Lim and his wife on March 10 escalated when Lim physically assaulted her and killed the family dog. Distressed, N.T.M. left the residence with their children and contacted her father-in-law, Lim’s father, J., to inform him of the situation.
J. promptly traveled from South Korea to Vietnam, arriving in Ho Chi Minh City on March 13. He stayed at the apartment to talk with his son about the incident. The father and son spent the evening drinking and discussing Lim’s behavior, with J. advising his son on how to treat his family.
Later that night, after they had gone to separate rooms, Lim, unable to sleep and angered by what he perceived as his father taking his wife’s side, retrieved a kitchen knife. He entered his father’s bedroom and fatally stabbed him multiple times while he slept.
Following the murder, Lim inflicted wounds on his own hands and wrists and discarded the knife from the apartment balcony. He then left the apartment and was later found by security guards lying on the grass inside the complex, covered in blood.
Police were alerted, and Lim was taken to the hospital for emergency treatment. Meanwhile, his wife and building security discovered the unlocked apartment door and found J. dead outside the bedroom.
The court convicted Lim of murder, and he now faces the death penalty.
