Woman admits killing children whose bodies were later found in suitcases, New Zealand prosecutor says

A woman on trial in New Zealand admitted to killing her children who were later found in suitcases, court records showed Friday, though the mother's defense has reportedly argued she is not guilty by reason of insanity.

South Korean Hakyung Lee "accepted that she gave her children nortriptyline which led to their deaths," state prosecutor Natalie Walker told jurors this week, referring to a common antidepressant.

Police believe Lee killed her children -- Minu Jo, 6, and Yuna Jo, 8 -- in June or July 2018, a year after her husband's death, and then returned to South Korea.

The children's bodies were found in an abandoned storage locker by an Auckland family over four years later.

Lee was arrested in September 2022 in South Korea and extradited two months later. She was ext