The Prime Minister is welcoming news the woman accused of killing two children before fleeing to South Korea will soon face court in New Zealand.
The Korean Justice Minister has ordered the extradition of the 42-year-old who has been held in Seoul since her arrest in mid-September.
It follows the discovery of the remains of two school-aged children in suitcases that were purchased in a storage unit auction in August.
Jacinda Ardern said the fact the suspect could be in New Zealand within 30 days is a good thing.
"One of the purposes of these extradition agreements is so that we are able to smooth the path for what otherwise would be very complex situations," Ardern told Newshub on Tuesday.
"This is a tragic set of circumstances in which this extradition is being used but it's all about making sure our justice system can operate as we would expect."
On Friday, the Seoul High Court decided to allow the woman's extradition, meaning it was up to justice minister Han Dong-hoon if it would go ahead.
On Monday, he announced he had decided to extradite her to New Zealand.
This was due to the court's decision, the Korean government's lack of jurisdiction, and "national interests", he explained.
"He ordered to surrender her by issuing a Writ of Surrender to the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office," his office said in a statement.
"In addition, the Minister ordered to surrender articles seized from the suspect at the time of her arrest by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office."
Details will be discussed with New Zealand and the High Prosecutors' Office to surrender the woman to New Zealand within 30 days.
In September, South Korean police arrested the unidentified woman who was "hiding in an apartment" in the City of Ulsan.
The Korean Ministry of Justice received a request from New Zealand for her provisional arrest in connection with the death of the children.
The woman told Korean reporters as she was bundled into a car "I didn't do it."
It was a major development almost 10,000 kilometres away from the south Auckland suburb of Manurewa where the children's bodies were first discovered in suitcases.
In August, the human remains of two primary school-aged children were discovered at an address on Moncrieff Ave in the south Auckland suburb of Manurewa.
Newshub later revealed the remains were unknowingly taken by a family to their Manurewa home who'd bid and won an auction for abandoned goods in a SafeStore Papatoetoe storage facility.
The children were aged between 5 and 10 years old and had been dead for a long time. Police said the suitcases had been in storage in Auckland for at least three or four years.
