SEOUL– South Korea’s justice minister on Monday ordered the extradition of a woman believed to be the mother of two children whose bodies were found in suitcases in New Zealand in August, the ministry said.
The order issued by Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon to the Seoul High Prosecutors Office came after the Seoul High Court approved the extradition of the 42-year-old woman, a South Korean-born New Zealand citizen, last Friday, the ministry said.
It said the woman and evidence seized from her will be handed over to New Zealand in less than 30 days after consultations with the court and the South Pacific nation’s authorities.
She was arrested in Ulsan, 307 kilometers southeast of Seoul, in mid-September after local police had tracked her down at the request of New Zealand police.
The remains of the two children believed to have been killed in 2018 at ages 7 and 10, respectively, were found on Aug. 11 in suitcases bought by a resident of Auckland, New Zealand, at an auction. New Zealand police then launched a manhunt after presuming the woman as the mother of the two children and the murder suspect.
Source: Yonhap News Agency