WELLINGTON (AFP) – A South Korean woman accused of killing her two children and stashing their bodies in suitcases will face trial in New Zealand next year, a judge ruled on Wednesday.
Hakyung Lee was extradited from Seoul in late 2022 after the remains of her children were discovered in suitcases left at a storage unit in New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland.
Her trial was originally scheduled to begin last month but was abruptly adjourned.
The cause of the delay cannot be reported for legal reasons.
High Court Justice Matthew Downs on Wednesday scheduled a new trial date of September 2025, a court spokesman told AFP.
The bodies were found after an unsuspecting family bought the contents of the abandoned storage unit in an online auction.
Both the children were aged under 10.
New Zealand police have said the bodies were likely in storage for a long time before their discovery, complicating the investigation.
Lee, who reportedly also has New Zealand citizenship, has pleaded not guilty to two murder charges.
At the time of her arrest in the Korean port city of Ulsan, Lee repeatedly told reporters “I didn’t do it” as she was bundled into a police car.
