Malaysian police arrest two suspects in killing of Kim Jong-nam, one with an Indonesian passport

Posted on : 2017-02-16 12:10 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Body of Kim Jong-un’s half-brother still in a Malaysian hospital, after a postmortem
 
A CCTV image of a woman who left Kuala Lumpur in a taxi after the killing of Kim Jong-nam
A CCTV image of a woman who left Kuala Lumpur in a taxi after the killing of Kim Jong-nam

The Malaysian police, who are currently investigating the killing of Kim Jong-nam, half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, announced on Feb. 15 that they had arrested a woman holding a Vietnamese passport as a suspect. Japan’s Kyodo News reported that there is a total of six suspects implicated in the killing, including a woman with an Indonesian passport who was arrested.

According to reports in the local media on Feb. 15, Malaysian police chief Khalid Abu Bakar released a statement on that day explaining that a woman holding a Vietnamese passport had been arrested at the second terminal of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 8:20 am and was being questioned as a suspect in the killing of Kim Jong-nam. The second terminal of the airport is where Kim Jong-nam was killed two days before.

The suspect’s passport states that her name is Doan Thi Huong, that she is 29 years old and that she is from Nam Dinh in northern Vietnam. The police said that the woman is identical to the one who appears on the airport‘s CCTV footage and that she was alone at the time of her apprehension. Shortly after the attack, the woman made a getaway in a taxi and reportedly stayed at a hotel in the area. Bakar said that the investigation was ongoing and that the suspects would be dealt with according to the law.

The police stated that the suspects appeared to be agents from overseas without mentioning whether there was any connection between this woman and North Korea. A senior official with the local police said that they were also looking for a female accomplice, among several other suspects. The police have linked six suspects to the killing - two women and four men - said a report in the Sun Daily, a local newspaper.

While being questioned by the police, the driver of the taxi who picked up the two female suspects at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on the morning of Feb. 13 recalled the women saying they were Vietnamese, the Telegraph reported, quoting a high-level source with the police.

The Malaysian police moved Kim Jong-nam’s body to a hospital in Kuala Lumpur, where they ordered a postmortem to determine the exact cause of death. The postmortem was carried out between 12:45 to 8 pm, with diplomats from the North Korean embassy observing. The embassy also reportedly asked that Kim's body be transferred to their possession, but Malaysian police have refused, saying they need to determine the cause of death.

By Hwang Keum-bi and Choi Hye-jung, staff reporters

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

 

 

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