A court in South Korea on Friday approved the extradition of a 42-year-old woman accused of murdering two children, found dead in a suitcase that a New Zealand couple bought in an online auction. The Seoul High Court said that its decision came after the accused woman agreed to be sent back to New Zealand.
The local South Korean media has reported that the accused woman herself is the mother of murdered children.
ALSO READ | South Korea: 42-year-old woman arrested over dead children found in suitcases in New Zealand
The woman, however, had denied the charges earlier in September.
“I didn’t do it,” the accused, whose name has been withheld by the authorities, told a group of reporters.
New Zealand suitcase murders: What next?
Next, it is now up to South Korea’s justice minister, Han Dong-hoon, to make the final call on whether she will be sent to New Zealand.
The woman was arrested in September following a court warrant issued after New Zealand formally arrested her provisional arrest. Following her arrest, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern-led country requested formal extradition of the accused woman from South Korea.
New Zealand police said the South Korean warrant was in connection with two murder charges, and that they requested South Korean authorities keep the woman in jail until she is extradited.
About New Zealand suitcase murders
The bodies of two children were discovered in August after a New Zealand family bought abandoned goods, including two suitcases, from a storage unit in an online auction. Police said the family had nothing to do with the deaths. The children were aged between 5 and 10 years and had been dead for years, according to police.
South Korean police say the woman was born in South Korea and later moved to New Zealand, where she gained citizenship. Immigration records show she returned to South Korea in 2018.
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