Seoul: North Korea said on Thursday Malaysia was to blame for the death of its citizen there last week and accused the Malaysian government of demonstrating "unfriendly attitude" under a scenario drawn up by South Korea.
Malaysia had initially informed the North that the person bearing a diplomatic passport had died of a heart attack at Kuala Lumpur airport on February 13, the North's KCNA news agency said.
![Kim Jong-nam, left, and his half-brother, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.](/web/20170223041020im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/h/i/9/k/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.guj820.png/1487808827715.jpg)
North Korea denies the person who died of apparent poisoning by two women was Kim Jong-nam, estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Mr Kim, 46, who was about to fly to Macau, became unwell after two women appeared to wipe a cloth on his face. He died on the way to hospital.
"What merits more serous attention is the fact that the unjust acts of the Malaysian side are timed to coincide with the anti-DPRK conspiratorial racket launched by the South Korean authorities," KCNA said, using the North's formal name of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
KCNA, in the first official media report of the killing, did not name the person who died on the way to the hospital or acknowledge that he was the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, referring to him only as "a citizen of the DPRK".
South Korean and US officials believe Kim Jong-nam, was killed by agents of North Korea.
On Wednesday, Malaysian police named two North Koreans they want to interview in connection with death: a diplomat and an airline employee. Several others are in custody in Kuala Lumpur including a Vietnamese woman, an Indonesian woman, and a North Korean chemist.
![Ri Jong-chol, the North Korean man in Malaysian police custody over the killing of Kim Jong-nam.](/web/20170223041020im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/g/7/k/2/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.guj820.png/1487808827715.jpg)
Reuters
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