South Korea tries killers of Vietnamese sailors

According to a VNA correspondent in South Korea, the Criminal Court under the Daegu City Court of South Korea, about 300km southeast of Seoul, on February 17 tried and sentenced 7 Indonesian crew members to 10-25 years in prison for murdering a Vietnamese colleague working on the same ship and then throwing the body into the sea to destroy evidence.

Indonesian suspects at a South Korean police station. (Source: Yonhap News).

The court's indictment stated that the two masterminds, both 27 years old, were sentenced to 25 and 20 years in prison, respectively, for murder and disposing of the victim's body; four accomplices (aged 20 to 29) who participated in the assault were sentenced to 15 years in prison; the remaining accomplice (31 years old), who assisted in the crime, was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The incident occurred at 5:30 a.m. on August 2, 2015, when the fishing boat (where the crew members worked) was anchored in an area about 94 km southeast of the Dokdo Islands, which Japan calls Takeshima. Taking advantage of the moment when the Vietnamese crew member (who was then the foreman on the ship responsible for assigning and supervising the crew members' work) was standing alone at the stern of the ship, the 7 subjects used weapons to beat the victim to death in the head and then threw the body into the sea.

Investigation results showed that during the 4 years working together on the ship, conflicts arose between the victim and the Indonesian crew members due to cultural and language differences, so the above subjects planned revenge.

Although after killing the victim, the perpetrators threw the body into the sea and erased all traces at the scene, the coast guard inspected and discovered blood stains on the stern of the ship and on the shirt of an Indonesian crew member.

Through DNA testing of blood stains and interrogation, the 7 subjects above admitted all their crimes and were escorted to the mainland for trial.

The above fishing vessel is an offshore fishing vessel, registered in the port city of Busan, South Korea, with the name SeoLim 302, with a capacity of 433 tons, departing from KamCheon port of Busan to catch mackerel in the North Pacific region.

There were a total of 35 crew members on board at the time; including 7 Koreans, 9 Indonesians, 11 Vietnamese and 8 Filipinos.

According to the official dispatch of the Korean Coast Guard Agency sent to the Vietnamese Embassy in Korea on August 4, 2015 informing about the above incident, the victim's name is Le Quang Huy, born on April 24, 1981, passport number B3937959.

According to Vietnam+