Algeria urges South Korean authorities to shed light on recent murder of Algerian woman Nacéra Bouteldja

The body of the Algerian woman murdered recently in still murky circumstances in South Korea arrived Thursday on board an Emirati plane at the international Houari Boumedienne airport of Algiers and was handed over by the relevant authorities to the family members of the victim, namely Bouteldja Nacéra, who were present at the airport.

She was later on buried at the Sidi Moussa cemetery in suburban Algiers in the presence of relatives and a crowd of mourners who are still shocked at the tragic demise of this Algerian woman, 32, who is believed to have been murdered together with her South Korean husband, aged 48, on August 23rd in the South Korean city of Gangwon Yeongwol in unclear circumstances.

The couple’s bodies were discovered last Monday by a passer-by who noticed a rotting smell coming from their house. 

The passer-by peeked through the front gate and saw the body of a dead woman in the back seat of a car parked on the front lawn. 

The police who attended the scene found a man hanging from a tree at the back of the house.

Based on the degree of decomposition of both bodies, the police estimate they had been dead for at least a week. 

No suicide notes were found on the scene. 

The South Korean police had initially thought that the woman was pregnant, but the forensic investigation showed that she was not. 

The dead couple reportedly began renting the house three years ago. 

Members of the victim’s family told “Echorouk” however that they suspect Buddhist extremists of behind the two murders as the South Korean husband of this late Algerian woman has recently converted to the religion of Islam by changing his name from Shi Hyung Ki to Abdallah.

In a statement released Thursday, the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said it had instructed the Embassy of Algeria in Seoul to take “all required administrative and judicial steps from the relevant South Korean authorities to shed light on the “true circumstances” of the tragedy related to the death of the Algerian national Ms. Bouteldja Nacéra.

The Foreign Ministry said that “as soon as it was informed of the tragedy, the Embassy of Algeria in Seoul dispatched two officials who visited the city where the tragedy took place to carry out checks on the identity of the victim and to be apprised of the real circumstances of her death”.

In the same statement, the Foreign Ministry “presents to the family of the deceased sincere condolences and assured them of its full compassion and entire solidarity”.