South Korean woman pleads not guilty to New Zealand suitcase murder

She faces two counts of murder charges after human remains of her children were found in August

A South Korean woman, whose two children were found dead inside a suitcase in New Zealand, pleaded not guilty to the alleged crime.

The 42-year-old woman was extradited to the island nation last month from South Korea.

She pleaded not guilty to the two counts of murder charges she is facing, her lawyer Christopher Wilkinson-Smith told CNN.

Police in New Zealand launched a homicide inquiry after the remains of two children were found by a family who had bought a storage locker in an online auction in Auckland earlier in August this year. The family called the police when they discovered the remains in suitcases which were kept inside the storage locker.

The family who purchased the suitcases are not linked to the deaths and were “understandably distressed” by their discovery.

The suspect was tracked to South Korea and arrested in September from the city of Ulsan, following the issuance of a domestic court warrant after the Jacinda Ardern administration requested her provisional arrest.

The South Korean-born woman had moved to New Zealand where she was granted citizenship. According to officials, her past address in the country was registered to a storage unit where the suitcases were kept for years.

Authorities estimated the children were aged between five and 10 when they died, nearly four years ago. The father of the two children had died from cancer before his wife left for South Korea.

The suspect’s immigration records suggested she had returned to South Korea in 2018.

Although the woman did not appear at the Auckland high court on Wednesday, justice Sally Fitzgerald set a trial date for April 2024.

Her first court appearance in New Zealand was at the Manukau District Court in late November.