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Dec. 26 (UPI) -- A South Korean man was arrested in connection to a murderous attack on a South Korean expatriate family in Vietnam, according to multiple press reports. The suspect with the surname Lee may have had an accomplice and possibly premeditated the attack on the family of a South Korean businessman based in Ho Chi Minh City, Yonhap reported Thursday.
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The attack led to injuries and death. The victim's wife died of a fatal stabbing. The husband and his 17-year-old daughter are recovering following an emergency operation, according to the report.
The attack took place on Saturday at 1:30 a.m., when Lee broke into the victims' residence using a back door. Vietnamese authorities have said Lee confessed to his crimes and is cooperating.
Authorities said Lee took pre-emptive measures, including confiscating the mobile phones of his victims before stabbing them multiple times, South Korean news service News 1 reported Thursday.
Lee reportedly said he was following orders from "another South Korean businessman" to carry out the killings; investigations are ongoing.
Lee, who is being identified as a South Korean graduate of a dental school in the Philippines, took more than $100 in cash from his victims before he made his getaway by car. He is also being charged with burning the car in an area of Ho Chi Minh about six miles from the scene of the crime.
The two countries' governments are cooperating on the case following the release of Lee's photographs.
Lee first entered Vietnam on Nov. 1 on a tourist visa, according to local Vietnamese press reports. He was looking for work in dentistry but was reportedly unable to find employment. Lee then learned about his victim and his family through an online South Korean expat community board in Vietnam, according to Yonhap.
South Koreans in Vietnam have grown in number over the decades. According to South Korean paper Hankyoreh, there may be about 150,000 South Koreans living in Ho Chi Minh, and another 100,000 people in Hanoi.
