(Yonhap)

A 40-year-old woman has turned herself in after strangling her two sons to death, saying she also attempted to take her own life after killing the sons due to economic hardship, according to police Friday.

The woman, whose identity was withheld, killed the sons, aged 8 and 7, at their home in Seoul's southwestern district of Geumcheon on Tuesday night and turned herself in to police on Thursday, officials said.

She was raising her children alone after separating from her husband because of his gambling debt, and suffered from mental distress and anxiety after her home was seized as she was unable to pay interest on debts.

Police quoted her as saying she felt so miserable to think she could be forced out on the street.

After the killings, she went to her husband and confessed her crime and visited the police station with her husband.

She was immediately taken into custody and police plan to seek an arrest warrant for her later Friday. (Yonhap)