Japanese ambassador bows to apologize to father of Vietnamese girl killed in Japan

Japan's ambassador to Vietnam has visited the family of the Vietnamese girl murdered in Japan and bowed to her father to apologize.

During the short meeting on Friday, Ambassador Kunio Umeda advised the family of Le Thi Nhat Linh, who was killed in Japan last month, that Japanese police have arrested a suspect. 

A photo showing Ambassador Umeda and another Japanese official bowing to Linh's father in front of their home in the northern province of Hung Yen has been circulated on social media and received thousands of likes and comments from Vietnamese netizens.

Many local users have praised the Japanese diplomats for being “thoughtful” and “responsible.”

But others said the public should look past the nice token to see how the Japanese government will handle the case.

The murder of the nine-year-old girl has received intensive coverage on both mainstream and social media in Vietnam.

On Friday Japanese police arrested a 46-year-old male neighbor of the girl after DNA samples obtained from the crime site matched those of his.

The third-year elementary school student went missing after she left home for school in Matsudo City on March 24. Her body was discovered two days later in the grass near a drainage canal.

Autopsy results suggested she died from suffocation caused by strangulation. They also showed signs of sexual abuse on her body.