'Suitcase murder' case: After extradition from Seoul, Auckland court sends accused to remand

Days after Seoul extradited a 42-year-old woman accused of murdering two children whose bodies were found in a suitcase in New Zealand, an Auckland court heard the case for the first time.

The judge at Auckland's Manukau District Court said that the murdered children were indeed accused woman's own. The woman was remanded into police custody until December 14, until her next hearing in the Auckland High Court.

The hearing lasted less than five minutes, New Zealand Herald reported.

Earlier on Monday, the Korean-born New Zealander was handed over to New Zealand authorities at Incheon International Airport. Accused ofkilling her 7-year-old and 10-year-old children in 2018, the woman allegedly fled from Auckland to South Korea in 2018 itself.

“Along with the suspect, the justice ministry has also secured key evidence and provided it to New Zealand as per their request,” the ministry said in a statement.

The woman denied the murder allegations, police said in September when they arrested her in the city of Ulsan after the global police agency Interpol issued a red notice for her.

“I did not do it,” she told reporters at the time.

New Zealand police launched a homicide inquiry in Auckland after the remains of the children were found by a family going through the contents of a storage locker they had purchased. The family who found the bodies were not connected to the deaths.

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