Kim Jong-nam: Four more North Korean suspects wanted in murder probe
Updated
Malaysian police are looking for four more North Korean suspects in connection with the murder of Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half-brother of Kim Jong-un.
The four North Koreans flew out of Malaysia on the day of the killing, but police would not reveal the flight's destination, just that they were coordinating with Interpol to track them down.
"The four suspects are holding normal passports, not diplomatic passports," police deputy inspector-general Noor Rashid Ismail told reporters at a press conference on Sunday.
"Next plan is to get them. We of course have international cooperation especially with Interpol [and] bilateral involvement with the country involved.
"We will go through those avenues to get the people involved."
Malaysian police arrested a North Korean man on Friday in connection to the murder of Kim Jong-nam.
Two female suspects, one an Indonesian and the other carrying Vietnamese travel documents, have also been arrested, while a Malaysian man has been detained.
Kim Jong-nam died on Monday after being assaulted at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, where he was catching a flight to Macau.
South Korean and US officials have said he was assassinated by North Korean agents using what was thought to be a fast-acting poison.
Malaysian police said the cause of death was still not known and that they were waiting for pathology and toxicology tests after conducting a post-mortem.
Diplomatic row escalates
A diplomatic spat between North Korea and Malaysia over the body has escalated. North Korea has said it would reject Malaysia's autopsy report and accused Malaysia of "colluding with outside forces" — a veiled reference to rival South Korea.
Malaysian police said they were trying to contact the next-of-kin of Kim Jong-nam.
"The body must be identified. The most eligible to identify the body physically is the next-of-kin," Mr Noor Rashid said.
"We will verify again through scientific means, so it is very important for close family members to come forward to assist us in process of identification base on legal procedures under Malaysian law."
The police is giving the next-of-kin two weeks to claim the body.
South Korea's intelligence agency told politicians in Seoul that Kim Jong-nam had been living with his second wife in the Chinese territory of Macau, under China's protection.
Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, had spoken out publicly against his family's dynastic control of isolated, nuclear-armed North Korea.
Reuters
Topics: murder-and-manslaughter, police, malaysia, korea-democratic-people-s-republic-of, asia
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