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Kim Jong-nam

Kim Jong-nam, half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was carrying US$120,000 in cash when he was killed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia in February, Japanese newspaper the Asahi Shimbun reported.

On June 11, the Asahi Shimbun quoted an anonymous Malaysian investigator as speculating that Kim may have received this money from an individual linked with a US intelligence agency in exchange for providing information.

When the Malaysian police searched Kim’s belongings after his death, they found a black bag containing several stacks of hundred-dollar bills, the newspaper reported. There were four stacks altogether, each consisting of 300 bills, most of them new. In most countries, including Malaysia, it is illegal to travel overseas with such a large amount of money without reporting it. But since Kim had a diplomatic passport, his baggage was not searched very carefully when he was passing through customs.

Kim entered Malaysia on Feb. 6 and was returning to Macao, where his family resides, when he was killed at the Kuala Lumpur airport on Feb. 13. Kim spent five of the eight days he was in Malaysia at the Langkawi archipelago, a resort area in the northern part of the country. On Feb. 9, Kim went to a hotel for a two-hour meeting with an American man whom the Malaysian authorities believe is linked to a US intelligence agency, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Malaysian investigators believe that Kim provided this American with some kind of information. A senior Malaysian investigator told the newspaper on condition of anonymity that the large amount of cash in Kim’s possession “could have been the payment for [providing] information.” There are no records of Kim withdrawing money from banks in Malaysia.

By Cho Ki-weon, Tokyo correspondent

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