New Zealand: South Korean woman extradited over mysterious bodies in suitcases

A woman is to be questioned after the bodies of two children were found in abandoned suitcases in New Zealand.

The 42-year-old from South Korea has been extradited as a murder suspect in a country-wide shocking case.

They were found by a family who bought the boxes at an online auction from a storage unit in August.

Police believe the victims had been dead for at least three or four years when they were finally discovered.

Investigators say they were between the ages of five and 10, but little more is known about their lives.

The suspects’ identities have not been publicly confirmed, but South Korean police previously said she could be the victims’ mother.

Detectives in Seoul confirmed that she was born in South Korea and later moved to New Zealand, where she was granted citizenship and immigration records showed she returned in 2018.

They also said their previous address in New Zealand was registered in the storage unit where the suitcases were kept.

South Korea’s Justice Ministry announced that she was handed over to New Zealand authorities at Incheon International Airport near Seoul on Monday night.

The ministry said it had also provided New Zealand with unspecified “important evidence” on the case.

A government spokesman said: “With the extradition, we hope that the fair and rigorous New Zealand trial will bring to light the truth of the case that has attracted global attention.”

The murder suspect was arrested in a southern port city in September after a New Zealand court issued an arrest warrant.

South Korean police arrested the woman in September in a southern port city on the basis of a domestic court warrant issued after New Zealand requested her provisional arrest.

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