Body in suitcase identified as Korean student

A woman whose body was discovered in a suitcase dumped in a hedge was identified yesterday as a 21-year-old Korean student from Lyons University in France.

North Yorkshire Police, who discovered the body on 18 November in a country lane near the village of Askham Richard on the outskirts of York, said the woman was Hyo Jung Jin, who had been studying French and was due to visit London last October.

Police had been unable to establish her identity, clues to which included tape from the Tate Gallery with which she was bound, until they were helped by a series of coincidences.

An appeal for information on Ms Hyo's whereabouts was posted by her brother on a South Korean website, www.snailhome.com. The site was seen by a South Korean police officer studying at Leeds University who contacted the incident room in York. That linked the discovery of the body to concerns raised in Lyons after Ms Hyo failed to return to the university late last year.

A university friend contacted Ms Hyo's mother in South Korea, who contacted the South Korean embassy in Paris. Officials from the embassy then informed the South Korean embassy in London. The victim's fingerprints were sent to detectives working on the case, and an identification was made.

North Yorkshire Police, who described the identification as "a significant development", now know she arrived in Britain in late October and was intending to visit London. Detective Chief Superintendent Ian Lynch, head of North Yorkshire CID, said: "One of our priorities is to establish Hyo's movements once she arrived in the UK. She intended to visit the Korean community in London and her body has been found in York, so clearly we have got to fill that gap in.

"Anyone who saw her in London or knows about her movements should contact us immediately. We do not know her reason for wanting to visit London, if it was to see friends or as a tourist. Her body was discovered on the outskirts of York. We now need to know how her body arrived here."

Ms Hyo's parents and brother, who live in the Junju-Si province of South Korea, intend to travel to Britain to help officers working on the case.

The body was discovered after a man walking in the lane spotted the suitcase and became suspicious when he was unable to lift it. Hyo Jung Jin had been bound and gagged with adhesive tape, bearing a pattern of men's faces. The tape was exclusively designed by the artists Gilbert and George for Tate shops in London, Liverpool and Cornwall. Only 850 rolls are believed to have been sold.

Detective Chief Inspector Alan Ankers, who is leading the investigation, travelled to London this week with a team of 12 officers to work with the Metropolitan Police. The results of pathology tests to establish the cause of Ms Hyo's death are still awaited.