Bodies of mother, daughters identified

The Korean woman and her two teenage daughters found dead in a Christchurch house on Wednesday have been named.

They were Sung Eun Cho, 43, Yeon Jae Baek, 17, known as Holly, and Yeon Sue Baek, 13, known as Kelly.

Police found the bodies in an Apsley Drive home in the suburb of Avonhead about 10.30am on Wednesday after the mother had failed to keep an appointment.

Post-mortem examinations were completed yesterday and the matter has been referred to the coroner.

Detective Senior Sergeant Virginia Le Bas said police could not comment on the circumstances of the deaths as it was now before the coroner.

Yesterday, it was reported that immigration officials had visited the property on Wednesday morning, but a spokeswoman for the Immigration Service declined to confirm that.

The president of the Christchurch Korean Society, Kevin Park, said yesterday that he did not believe the deaths of the mother and the teenagers were related to financial pressure or immigration issues.

"Not at all, because I believe they have lived in New Zealand for about five or six years," he said.

"I don't think they have financial problems, but they have been isolated for so long."

Mr Park said Sung Eun Cho's separation from her husband, who lives in Korea, might have led to conflict between the couple and exacerbated the family's isolation.

"It's a very isolated situation for some families," he said.

"Some Korean families come from Korea to educate their children here and have trouble if they don't have contact people or they don't have good neighbours."

The girls were students of St Andrew's College in the city.

Mr Park said the Korean Embassy had contacted the husband, who was coming to New Zealand "as fast as he can" and could be in the country as early as today.

The family's large brick house had been on the market since November with an asking price of $657,000 and a neighbour told the Press newspaper that it had recently sold for about $100,000 below that figure.

- NZPA