A 42-year-old woman has been arrested in South Korea on accusation of murder of two children whose remains were found in suitcases.
The woman who is not yet identified was arrested by the South Korean police in the wee hours of Thursday morning local time in the southeastern city of Ulsan. She was arrested on murder charges on the request of New Zealand’s police, confirmed the police in both countries. The officials that arrested her confirmed, after tallying earlier police reports, that she is the same woman who is the children’s mother who had arrived in the country many years before and stayed here ever since after committing the crime.
The police said that She will now face extradition proceedings. The New Zealand police in a statement said that they requested the South Korean police for an arrest warrant for the accused according to the extradition treaty between the two countries. The former applied to extradite her to New Zealand to face charges.
South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported that the police is preparing for the extradition screening by the Seoul High Court and would transfer the woman to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office.
“The suspect is accused by the New Zealand police of having murdered two of her children, aged seven and 10 then, in around 2018 in the Auckland area,” Seoul’s National Police Agency said in a statement.
The terrible discovery was made after an unwary family purchased a trailer load of belongings, including the luggage, at an auction for abandoned goods outside of New Zealand’s largest city Auckland.
Last month, South Korean authorities verified that the woman was born there and “long ago” received New Zealand citizenship.
The case, according to Detective Inspector Tofilau Fa’amanuia Vaaelua of Auckland, was “an extremely difficult inquiry.”
“To have someone in custody overseas within such a short period of time has all been down to the assistance of the Korean authorities and the coordination by our New Zealand Police Interpol staff,” the detective said.
The woman’s extradition to New Zealand will now be decided by Seoul High Court within the next two months.
