The estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been assassinated outside Malaysia's international airport with "poison needles," according to multiple reports.
Kim Jong-nam, 46, became unwell and died while being rushed to hospital.
Two women believed to be North Korean intelligence agents fled the scene in a taxi Monday night, according to South Korea's TV Chosun, citing multiple sources.
They were still at large early Wednesday.
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"I think the two were female spies dispatched by North Korea," said an intelligence official, quoted by the Korea Joonang Daily.
A South Korean government source confirmed the death to Reuters.
There was no immediate comment from North Korea.
Malaysian police confirmed that a man in his 40s had become unwell at the airport and had subsequently died.
South Korea's national news agency Yonhap quoted a source saying agents of the north's spy agency, the Reconnaissance General Bureau, carried out the assassination by taking advantage of a security loophole between Kim Jong-nam's bodyguards and Malaysian police at the airport.
Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of the late dictator Kim Jong-il, was once considered the heir-apparent to his father but is believed to have fallen out of favour in 2001 after he was caught trying to enter Japan on a false passport, saying he had wanted to visit Tokyo Disneyland.
The Joonang Daily quoted an intelligence official as saying Kim Jong-nam had been in a relationship with a woman in Malaysia and travelled there often.
The newspaper said it was not known why Kim Jong-un might have ordered the death of his own half-brother.
But he has reportedly staged a series of executions in his country as he has attempted to strengthen his grip on power.
In 2013 Kim Jong-un's uncle Jang Song-thaek was executed and key figures linked to him purged.
Kim Jong-nam had been reportedly close to his uncle.
Kim Jong-nam was also an advocate of reform in the north, once telling a Japanese newspaper he opposed his country's dynastic power transfers.
He did not hold any official title in the North Korean government.
In 2008 Kim Jong-nam reportedly suffered a stroke after which he travelled frequently to countries in south-east Asia and the Chinese territory of Macau.
In 2012 he was reportedly having financial troubles and was evicted from a Macau hotel over a $US15,000 debt.
His mother is the late Kim Jong-il's second wife Song Hye-rim, a South Korean-born actress, and one of at least three women the former leader had children with.
The assassination became public late on Tuesday as the United Nations Security Council condemned Kim Jong-un for his country's firing of a ballistic missile on Sunday, the first direct challenge to the international community since US president Donald Trump took office on January 20.
North Korea's media rejected the criticism on Tuesday, saying launching the missile with a range of 2000 kilometres was a "self defence measure".
Mr Trump, who was in the US with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe at the time of the launch, said "I just want everybody to understand and fully know that the United States of America stands behind Japan, it' great ally, 100 per cent."
With agencies