Kim Ki Jong (L) being escorted during his first trial heard at Hanoi People’s Court in January.

A South Korean was sentenced to death in Hanoi Friday for killing his Vietnamese lover, a college student, and burning her body.

The Supreme Court also ordered Kim Ki Jong to compensate the girl’s family with VND61 million (US$3,400), instead of the VND52 million previously ordered, the newswire Vnexpress reported.

In January, the 26-year-old had received a life sentence from the Hanoi People’s Court but the family of the girl, identified only as Dao Thi H., filed an appeal.

Kim had also filed his own appeal but withdrew it in court on Friday.

According to the indictment, Kim arrived in Vietnam in December 2007 looking for business partner. He promptly hired H., at the time a senior Korean language student at Ha Noi University, as his Vietnamese language teacher. She then became his lover, according to the testimony at the trial.

After the two had sex on a day in early September last year, H. told Kim she had once been in a relationship that lasted for three years. Kim then strangled H. to death.

He waited until dark and took a taxi to the city outskirts, bringing along 3.5 liters of gas and her body in a suitcase. Kim then burned her body.

He said in court in Friday that he did not know why he had committed the crime.

Source: Thanh Nien