New Zealand seeks extradition of woman in 'suitcase' murders
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| A Korean-born New Zealand woman wanted by the country's police as a murder suspect in the deaths of two children leaves a police station in Ulsan, southeastern Korea to be transferred to Seoul, Sept. 15. Yonhap |
New Zealand has requested Korea to extradite a woman in connection with the bodies of her two children that were discovered inside suitcases in Auckland, the justice ministry said Thursday.
The woman, known to be a Korean-born New Zealand citizen in her 40s, was arrested in the southeastern city of Ulsan last month after a global Interpol warrant had been issued for her arrest.
The ministry said there are reasonable grounds to believe that the woman had committed the crime and ordered the prosecution to ask the Seoul High court to conduct an extradition review.
The court should make a decision within two months and the justice minister will make a final decision.
The remains of two children ― aged 7 and 10 ― were discovered inside suitcases in a storage facility in Auckland on Aug. 11. New Zealand police at the time estimated the children's remains had been there for three or four years.
New Zealand police then launched a manhunt after presuming the woman as the mother of the two children and the murder suspect.
The woman born in Korea is said to have acquired New Zealand nationality after her immigration, and her husband is reported to have died of a disease there.
She reportedly fled to Korea after her alleged crimes in New Zealand and stayed in Seoul and other places before moving into an acquaintance's apartment in Ulsan early this year. (Yonhap)
