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Korean found guilty of killing 2 children, stuffing bodies in suitcases in New Zealand

Published: 23 Sep. 2025, 16:30

An image of a statue of Justitia, the goddess of justice [KOREA JOONGANG DAILY]

A Korean national was found guilty by a jury in New Zealand of killing her two children and abandoning their bodies in suitcases stored in a warehouse in 2018, according to AFP on Tuesday.

Prosecutors said the woman killed her children in 2018, about seven months after her husband died of cancer. She placed their bodies in suitcases and left them in storage in Auckland before returning to Korea the following year. She lived under a new name after her return.

During the trial, her lawyers argued she suffered from depression and mental illness after her husband’s death and claimed she was in a diminished state of mind at the time. Prosecutors countered that she intended to start a new life without her children and stressed that the crime was deliberate. The jury rejected her defense.

The case surfaced in 2022 after she failed to pay storage fees due to financial difficulties. The warehouse auctioned off her belongings, and the winning bidder discovered the children’s remains inside the suitcases and reported them to the police.

Authorities arrested her in Ulsan in September 2022, and she was extradited to New Zealand two months later.

New Zealand’s Ministry of Justice said Korean authorities provided "crucial evidence" in the case.

The court will deliver the final sentence on Nov. 26. In New Zealand, murder carries a mandatory life sentence, with parole eligibility only after serving at least 10 years.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY BAE JAE-SUNG [[email protected]]