Home violence might be behind the case in which a Vietnamese mother jumped to her death with her two children in South Korea last Friday, as shown in the woman’s suicide note and her mother’s words.

>> VN woman jumps to death with 2 children in S. Korea As previously reported, 27-year-old Vo Thi Minh Phuong jumped to her death from the 18th floor of an apartment building in the southern port city of Busanwhile holding her 7-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son. Phuong, who was a native of Vietnam’s southern Hau Giang province, and her 47-year-old South Korean husband, Kim Yeong Hwa, recently filed for divorce after eight years of marriage, police said. Before committing suicide, Phuong had allegedly left a suicide note written in Vietnamese, in which she wrote, “There were days when I could no longer endure being beaten ruthlessly by my husband who suspected me of being an adulteress.”

“My husband’s relatives have not allowed me to see my children. Life is meaningless to me now. Bury me along with my two children in the same grave in Vietnam.”

After receiving the bad news on the evening of November 23, Phuong’s parents hired a car to take them from Can Tho City to HCMC so they could fly to South Korea from there. However, they became sick on the way and had to return to Can Tho for treatment.

Phuong’s mother, Vo Thi Thu Anh, of Phung Hiep District, Hau Giang Province, said she saw her daughter being beaten when she visited Phuong in Busan in July 2011.

Anh and her husband stayed in Busan until October 21, 2012 to help Phuong take care of her two children. Anh said they had to rent a house to live in during their stay. During their time in Busan Anh witnessed many heartbreaking incidents happen to Phuong.

Anh said she once saw her son-in-law beat Phuong black and blue and strangled her to the point fainting. Phuong’s husband then called his father to come and they threw her belongings out of the house and then said , “This is your husband’s house, not yours!”

Phuong married her husband in December 2004 and left Vietnam for three days after contacting him,

She then worked as a housewife until her parents came from Vietnam to help her, after which she was able to take a job in order to save money to buy insurance for her children and to buy a house in the future, Anh said.

Phuong and her husband finally filed their divorce petition to a court. Phuong’ s husband wanted to have custody of both children while she wanted to keep the youngest child, and the court had yet to come to a final judgment. The couple was separated for 2 years before her suicide, said Thai Van Ro, Phuong’s father.

"A few days before the suicide, Phuong called home and she and her children talked with  us happily...," Anh said in tears.

On Saturday afternoon, a representative from the Vietnam Embassy in South Korea arrived at the police station in Bukgu District, Busan to work with police on the case.

Police are investigating to clarify whether domestic violence was behind the suicide.