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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un pays his respects to his late father Kim Jong-il at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang

As of Feb. 16, four days after the killing of Kim Jong-nam, 46, half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, North Korea had not made any official response.

On Feb. 16, which was the 75th birthday of Kim Jong-il (called the Day of the Shining Star), North Korean media such as the Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the Korean Workers’ Party, only reported that Kim Jong-un had paid his respects at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang, where his father and grandfather lay in state. Kim Jong-un had also attended a memorial event for the Day of the Shining Star the previous day. The North has remained silent even as South Korean government officials identify Kim Jong-un as the person behind Kim Jong-nam’s killing.

In Malaysia, where the killing occurred, North Korean Ambassador to Malaysia Kang Chol and other officials paid a visit on Feb. 15 to Kuala Lumpur Hospital, where the postmortem was carried out on Kim Jong-nam’s body, but the North Korean Embassy has not provided an official statement on the incident. Malaysian daily newspaper the Star reported that no one was picking up the phone at the North Korean embassy.

But Minjok Tongshin, a pro-North Korean website in the US, claimed on Feb. 16 that the South Korean government had “concocted the assassination of Kim Jong-nam in order to stir up public sentiment against North Korea and to turn domestic and international attention elsewhere and have mobilized the media to make a huge stir.” On Feb. 15, the same website described reports about the murder of Kim Jong-nam from newspapers in various countries as being “unconfirmed” and concluded that “some kind of plot or conspiracy is taking place.”

“A source in Beijing with ties to both the North Korean and Chinese governments told Reuters that North Korea was not involved in his killing, and had no motive,” Reuters reported.

"Kim Jong Nam has nothing to do with (North) Korea [. . .] There is no reason for (North) Korea to kill him,” Reuters quoted the source as saying.

“’(North) Korea is investigating,’ the source said when asked why there has been no publicly denied involvement, adding that North Korea wanted the body returned,” Reuters added.

By Kim Jin-cheol, staff reporter and Jung E-gil, senior staff writer

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