New Zealand woman guilty of murdering 2 children, hiding bodies in luggage

Hakyung Lee, 45, recovered blameworthy of sidesplitting her children, Minu Jo, 6, and Yuna Jo, 8, and hiding their bodies successful retention facility.

A pistillate has been recovered blameworthy by a New Zealand tribunal of murdering her 2 young children and hiding their bodies successful suitcases for years, until their remains were accidentally discovered.

A assemblage astatine the Auckland High Court connected Tuesday recovered Hakyung Lee, 45, blameworthy of the treble murder aft conscionable 2 hours of deliberations, rejecting an insanity defence made by her lawyers.

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Lee was recovered blameworthy of sidesplitting her six-year-old son, Minu Jo, and eight-year-old daughter, Yuna Jo, successful June 2018, respective months aft her hubby died from cancer.

Justice Geoffrey Venning ordered that Lee stay successful custody until her sentencing connected November 26.

Murder carries a mandatory beingness condemnation successful New Zealand, with judges required to acceptable a situation word of astatine slightest 10 years earlier an offender tin use for parole.

The New Zealand lawsuit garnered planetary headlines successful 2022, erstwhile the children’s remains were recovered wrong luggage astatine a disused retention installation successful Auckland, aft Lee stopped paying rental fees for the portion owed to having tally into fiscal difficulties.

Mum of children discovered dormant successful suitcases recovered blameworthy of execution aft chilling trialhttps://t.co/M1UXLO9JYx

— Newstalk ZB (@NewstalkZB) September 23, 2025

The shocking find was made erstwhile the contents of the retention portion were auctioned online and the purchaser took possession, uncovering the bodies wrong suitcases.

Lee, who represented herself successful tribunal with the assistance of 2 standby counsels, had argued that she was insane astatine the clip of the killing.

Public broadcaster Radio New Zealand (RNZ) said Lee’s standby lawyer, Lorraine Smith, had argued that the decease of Lee’s hubby had led to a “deep descent” into insanity and the sidesplitting of her children.

Crown Prosecutor Natalie Walker said that Lee’s actions aft the sidesplitting of her children were “calculated”, and she knew what she was doing, RNZ reported.

Lee, who is simply a New Zealand citizen, had near for South Korea aft the killings successful 2018 and changed her name. Following the find of her children’s bodies, she was tracked down and extradited from South Korea successful November 2022.

“I suggest this shows her reasoning rationally, adjacent clinically, astir taking her children’s lives and past covering up her heinous crimes,” Walker said, according to RNZ.

“It was a selfish enactment to escaped herself from the load of parenting alone,” she said.

“It was not the altruistic enactment of a parent who had mislaid her caput and believed it was the morally close happening to bash – it was the opposite,” she added.

When the proceedings began connected September 8, Justice Venning had said that it would beryllium distressing to Lee and granted her support to ticker the proceedings from different country successful the court.

On Tuesday, Lee returned to the dock and stood with her caput bowed and her hairsbreadth covering her look arsenic the verdict was announced, New Zealand quality outlets reported.