Allegation of infanticide: Suspects arrested on bodies in bags

alleged killing of children
The suspects arrested the bodies in bags

09/15/2022, 08:49 a.m

The bags in which the bodies of two children were found are being sold at auction for customs clearance in New Zealand. The police are looking for the mother of the deceased in South Korea. Now officers are detaining a woman in the southeastern port city of Ulsan.

The horrific case of children’s bodies in suitcases bought at auction in New Zealand caused a stir weeks ago – now a suspicious woman has been arrested in South Korea. The 42-year-old is suspected of killing the two children whose remains were found in the bags. A police officer said the woman was arrested Thursday evening in an apartment in the southeastern coastal city of Ulsan. She was wanted under an arrest warrant at the request of the New Zealand Police. It was not known at first if it was the mother.

The national news agency Yonhap reported that the woman denied the allegations when she was about to be transferred to Seoul. The suspect is a New Zealand citizen who once held South Korean citizenship. The woman is said to have entered South Korea in 2018. The body parts of the children, aged between 5 and 10, were discovered five weeks ago in suitcases bought at auction for customs clearance in New Zealand.

On August 11, a family purchased a trailer load of household items in an online auction. Two bags were among the items that came from the warehouse and the owners could no longer be traced. The family man discovered parts of the human body in it. According to the police, the bags had been kept in storage for three to four years.

A Seoul police spokesman said colleagues in New Zealand were looking for the woman assuming she was the children’s mother. An extradition request was also received from New Zealand. The Department of Justice must now decide on the transfer. The Korean community in New Zealand has been shocked by what has been revealed so far. Diane Lee, co-chair of the Korea-New Zealand Cultural Association, said in a statement that everyone in the Korean community mourns and prays for the “innocent children”. No one was known to the family involved.