The mysterious murder of the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un added another bizarre twist when Malaysian police said the body will not be released until they get DNA samples from his next of kin.
Kim Jong-nam, 46, was slain Monday while he was passing through the Kuala Lumpur airport. It is believed that he was doused with a fast-acting poison by a woman who claims she was duped into the crime.
A fourth suspect, this one from North Korea, was arrested by Malaysian police late Friday. The man, identified as Ri Jong Chol, 46, was nabbed in Selangor near Kuala Lumpur. The police statement gave no other details about why he was considered a suspect.
An Indonesian woman, Siti Aishah, her Malaysian boyfriend, and Doan Thi Huong, 29, who was traveling on a Vietnamese passport and wearing an “LOL” t-shirt during the encounter with Kim, were arrested earlier in the week. Indonesia’s police chief said Aishah was duped into thinking she was part of a comedy show prank and did not know who Kim Jong-nam was.
Police are hunting four men believed to have been accomplices. They released airport security camera photos of the four, believed to be North Korean agents who watched the murder go down from an airport restaurant about 50 yards away.
South Korea and the US both placed the blame for the murder on North Korea. It is believed the mercurial Kim Jong-un has executed or purged a slew of high-level officials, including several relatives, since taking power in 2011.
North Korea failed to stop Malaysian authorities from doing an autopsy. Malaysian authorities said a first autopsy was “inconclusive” and a second was slated for late Friday.
“We will categorically reject the result of the post-mortem,” said North Korean Ambassador Kang Chol, who claimed Malaysia may be “trying to conceal something” and is “colluding with hostile forces.”
Selangor state police chief Abdul Samah Mat told Reuters the body would not be released until next-of-kin DNA had been obtained to confirm the identity of the victim.
Kim Jong-nam is believed to have two sons and a daughter with two women living in Beijing and Macau, where he was headed when he died.
The dictator’s half-brother had spoken out publicly against his family’s dynastic control of the isolated, nuclear-armed North Korea. He reportedly fell out of favor in Pyongyang in 2001, when he was caught trying to enter Japan on a false passport to visit Tokyo Disneyland.
Alternative theories to his murder are floating around, including that he was a known gambler and owed money to mobsters.
Macau is home to multiple casinos.
With Post Wire service
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