South Korea finds woman linked to children found dead in suitcases in New Zealand | World | T.W.

New Zealand police announced last week that the remains of two boys, aged five and 10, had been found dead. The bodies were found in a trailer loaded with items a family bought at an Auckland auction.

New Zealand police say the bodies have been preserved for years, complicating the investigation of the crime.

A South Korean woman believed to be involved with the children is currently in South Korea, South Korean officials said Monday.

South Korean woman turned New Zealander

Immigration records show the unidentified woman arrived in South Korea in her 40s in 2018, but there is no record of her leaving since then, said Park Seung-hoon, an official with the National Police Agency in Seoul.

The woman was born in South Korea and later moved to New Zealand, where she became a citizen.

South Korean police currently do not have the power to locate or detain the woman because she is a New Zealand citizen and may be linked to a crime in New Zealand, Park said.

South Korean police informed New Zealand police after they asked for help in the investigation. But he cannot pursue her until New Zealand officially requests her extradition, which could happen if the investigation progresses to the point where Interpol issues a red notice against her, Park said.

In suitcases, for years

According to Park, New Zealand police suspect the woman may be the mother of the dead children as her previous address in New Zealand was registered to a storage unit where the suitcases had been kept for years.

So far New Zealand police have reviewed hours of video footage, but key moments may have been blacked out because of the time between the victims’ deaths and the discovery of the bodies.

“We are doing everything we can to identify the victims … I can say we are making very good progress with the DNA investigation,” New Zealand police said on the day of the discovery, which is working with Interpol.

Both the storage unit and the property where the bags were taken have been thoroughly examined by forensic teams.

Last week New Zealand authorities reiterated that the family that found the bodies had no connection to the murders and that its members were receiving support to deal with the trauma.

rml (afp, ap)