Russian investigators say that the recent killing of a South Korean student in Russia was not a racial hate crime.

A Russian official said Wednesday that although investigators have yet to nail down the motivation behind the killing, it would be inappropriate to label the event as a racially motivated hate crime at this point.

The official said that three suspects are being detained in relation with the incident.

The South Korean student was beaten to by a group of Russian youths in the city of Barnaul near Novosibirsk on February 15th. He eventually died from the injuries he sustained.