Woman linked to kids' corpses in bags deported to New Zealand

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Woman linked to kids' corpses in bags deported to New Zealand

Published: 29 Nov. 2022, 17:33 Updated: 29 Nov. 2022, 17:41

A 42-year-old woman facing charges of murdering two children in New Zealand awaits being transferred from Ulsan to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office on Sept. 15. [YONHAP]

A woman linked to the discovery of suitcases with the remains of two children in New Zealand last August was extradited to her home country on Monday evening, nearly four years after fleeing to Korea.

The Ministry of Justice announced Tuesday that the suspect, identified as a 42-year-old New Zealand citizen surnamed Lee, was handed over to New Zealand authorities at Incheon International Airport, along with evidence in the murder case collected by local police.

New Zealand authorities believe the woman is the mother of the two murdered children.

Korean police said Lee denied killing the children when she was apprehended here last September. Whether she denied being their mother remains murky.

Last September, police found Lee hiding in an apartment in Ulsan, some 300 kilometers (186 miles) southeast of Seoul, and nabbed her on the spot.

Lee was arrested on two charges of murder. She did not resist arrest, police said.

The murder case made headlines in both Korea and New Zealand when New Zealand police announced that a family in South Auckland discovered human remains in suitcases they bought at an online auction.

New Zealand police said they believe the remains were from two children between the ages of five and 10 at the time of their deaths.

Police suspect they died three to four years ago.

The people who bought the suitcases were not named as suspects in the murders. Lee was, though a motive hasn’t been described.

Lee’s husband is known to have died of a disease in New Zealand in late 2017.

The suspect is believed to have arrived in Korea in 2018, after the alleged murders, and stayed in the country since.

New Zealand police believed Lee was hiding in Korea, where she was born. They asked Korean authorities for help in finding her, and under a treaty with New Zealand, requested her extradition to New Zealand to face charges.

A local police officer said the suspect admitted knowing she was being chased by police because of media reports.

Upon receiving a formal request from New Zealand’s Ministry of Justice to extradite Lee, Korea’s Justice Ministry ordered the Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office to ask a court to review the extradition.

The Seoul High Court granted the extradition on Nov. 11.

According to Stuff, a media company based in New Zealand, Lee is expected to appear in New Zealand court on Wednesday to face two murder charges. She reportedly arrived in Auckland on Tuesday afternoon and was transported to the city’s Manukau Police Station.

BY LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]