Dunedin link to trio killed in Korea
A NEW ZEALAND woman who was killed by a landslip in Korea and has been described as ‘‘a beautiful soul’’ and a ‘‘wonderful mother’’ grew up in Dunedin.
Defence attache to South Korea Colonel Donald Jones confirmed Anna Song (36), her son Taeyang Rikiti (2), and mother Rose Kim (65) were among the 13 people killed by a slip in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi province amid torrential rain on Monday morning.
Ms Song spent some of her childhood growing up in Dunedin along with her family, including mother Rose Kim.
Ms Song moved to Rotorua in 2015 to take up a job as business manager at ANZ Bank before moving back to South Korea in 2018.
While in Rotorua she met Luke Rikiti, Taeyang’s father, who told the Rotorua Daily Post losing three generations in one incident was ‘‘a pretty tough pill to swallow’’.
He was now on his way to Korea.
‘‘Anna is a strong person and is able to walk in both the Korean and New Zealand worlds,’’ Mr Rikiti said.
‘‘She took pride in everything she did and most of all she is a wonderful mother to our son, Taeyang, who was also tragically killed.’’
In 2016, Ms Song told the Rotorua Daily Post she moved to New Zealand with her parents when she was 12, and grew up in Christchurch, Dunedin and Wellington.
She returned to Korea in 2011 to ‘‘reconnect’’ with her cultural roots. Her hometown, Jeju Island, off the southern coast of South Korea, was a popular tourist destination, ‘‘just like Rotorua’’.
However, she found she missed New Zealand too much and jumped at the chance to return when there was an opening for a business manager at ANZ in Rotorua.
Local media reported the missing trio were found dead after a landslip swept away their rental accommodation.
More than 1000 people have been forced from their homes after days of heavy rain caused floods in South Korea. — The New Zealand Herald