The police have decided to charge a mother accused of killing her two newborns with murder instead of infanticide in a bid to land a heavier sentence.

The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency on Thursday said charges against the woman have been changed to murder after considering the effort she made in moving locations to commit the crime as well as the occurrence of the two killings in consecutive years.

The Criminal Act stipulates a prison term of up to ten years for those convicted of infanticide, while those found guilty of murder could face life in prison or the death penalty.

The police also said they have booked the woman's husband as an accessory to the murders, changing him from a witness to suspect.

The woman in her 30s was apprehended about a week ago for strangling her two babies to death shortly after their births in 2018 and 2019 and keeping their bodies in a refrigerator in her apartment in Suwon.

Already a mother of three, she reportedly explained that she committed the murders after getting pregnant while the family suffered financial difficulties.