Beginning a new life in Korea on tide of goodwill from Waltham

Three Waltham children whose mother died in a car crash 17 days ago have begun a new life in Korea, while people in Massachusetts who have read about their plight are still donating money to help them out.

The Lee children flew to Seoul last Thursday after the Korean Society of New England collected donations to pay for their $3,000 airfare.

The children's mother, Young Mi Lee, 44, was killed Feb. 6 in an accident on Nonantum Road in Watertown. Her boyfriend, Hyong Kim, 49, a passsenger in her minivan, also was killed when it rolled over.

Lee's death left Peter, 10, Sophia, 12, and Alana, 14, without any relatives in the United States and without any money.

Their father, who is remarried and has other children, lives in South Korea. An aunt from Korea flew to Boston and then took them back to her home.

In a conversation last weekend with a family friend, Vareeya Viyaran, Alana said she and her siblings plan to move in with their father. The family had moved to New York from South Korea five years ago and to Waltham about three months ago.

Viyaran, who owns two Waltham restaurants, Tom Can Cook and Erawan of Siam, has been helping to raise money for the Lees. She said she had been inundated with calls and e-mails from people wanting to help the children.

Some offered to donate airline tickets or money; others sought to connect the family with their own relatives living in Korea. One woman asked about adopting the children.

As of Tuesday, $3,600 had been donated to a special bank account Viyaran had set up at a Sovereign Bank branch on Moody Street in Waltham.

Donations that have been delivered to other Sovereign branches and pledges have yet to be tabulated.

As of last week, the Korean Society had raised another $5,000 through word of mouth, said its president, Young Cho, adding that its goal is to raise $20,000.

Diane Thompson, whose daughter was friendly with Sophia Lee at the McDevitt Middle School, said she hoped the school or the Parent Teacher Organization would organize a fund-raiser to help the Lees. She said her daughter had collected $72.

Lee was not a US citizen, complicating efforts to collect Social Security benefits for the children, Viyaran said. A lawyer and a Brighton insurance broker have volunteered to look into the status of Lee's insurance, she said.

Now that the children have returned to Korea, the money collected for them will be used to help defray the cost of their mother's funeral and to support them.

Kim, a widower whose wife died last year, leaves four children, ages 16 to 23.

The oldest, who lives in Las Vegas, said he and his brother, a student at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, plan to sell their father's business, the Home Town restaurant in Allston.

The two younger children moved to Sacramento this week to live with relatives.

Donations to the children may be made at any Sovereign Bank to the account named the Lee Family Children's Fund. Donations also may be sent to the Lee Family Children's Fund, PO Box 540447, Waltham 02454.

Christina Pazzanese can be reached via e-mail sent to cpazzanese@globe.com.