A woman who was extradited from South Korea this week after the bodies of her two children were found in abandoned suitcases has made her first court appearance in New Zealand.

The 42-year-old has been charged with two counts of murder. She was not required to enter a plea during the brief procedural hearing at the Manukau District Court on Wednesday.

The judge imposed a temporary order that keeps many details of the case secret, including the names of the woman and the victims.

The judge allowed it to be reported that the suspect was the children’s mother, according to The New Zealand Herald.

If found guilty, the woman would face a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment, although she would become eligible for parole after a minimum of 10 years.

According to the Herald, the woman, through an interpreter, asked the judge if she could speak with him before the woman’s lawyer stepped in to say it would be better if she didn’t, with which the judge agreed.

The woman left the courtroom after less than five minutes and will remain jailed until her next court appearance on December 14.

The case horrified many people in New Zealand after the children’s bodies were discovered in August when an Auckland family bought abandoned goods, including two suitcases, from a storage unit in an online auction.

The children were between five and 10 years old, had been dead for years, and the suitcases had been in storage in Auckland for at least three or four years, according to New Zealand police.

South Korean police say the woman was born in South Korea and moved to New Zealand, where she gained citizenship.

Immigration records show she returned to South Korea in 2018.

South Korean police first arrested the woman at a southern port city in September.

The Seoul High Court then granted approval of her extradition after she expressed her consent in writing to be sent back to New Zealand.

Earlier this month, South Korean Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon issued an order for the woman to be extradited.

The woman was handed over to three New Zealand police officers on Monday evening at the Incheon International Airport near Seoul.

South Korea’s justice ministry said it also provided New Zealand with unspecified “important evidence” in the case.

– AAP