18-02-2017, 08:23 AM
Kim Jong-nam killing: North Korean man arrested as second autopsy peformed
Malaysia police arrest Ri Jong Chol, the fourth suspect in attack on Kim Jong-un's half-brother
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and half-brother Kim Jong-nam. A fourth suspect has been arrested in connection with the killing of Kim Jong-nam. Photograph: Wong Maye-E, Shizuo Kambayashi/AP
Saturday 18 February 2017 05.04 GMT
Malaysian police said on Saturday they had arrested a North Korean man in connection with the murder of Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The man was identified as Ri Jong Chol, born in 1970. He was arrested on Friday night in Selangor state, the police said in a statement. He is the fourth suspect to be arrested in the investigations surrounding the murder in Kuala Lumpur on Monday.
Authorities are investigating whether Indonesian woman Siti Aisyah and another female suspect killed the 46-year-old North Korean exile in a shopping concourseat the international airport.
On Friday night, Malaysia performed a second autopsy on the estranged half brother of North Korea's leader because the first procedure was inconclusive.
The second autopsy clearly enraged North Korea, which has vowed to reject the results of any procedure and demanded that Malaysia turn over the body immediately. Speaking to reporters outside the morgue late on Friday, Pyongyang's ambassador said Malaysian officials may be "trying to conceal something" and "colluding with hostile forces".
Kim Jong Nam, who was 45 or 46 and had lived in exile for years, suddenly fell ill at the Kuala Lumpur airport on Monday as he waited for a flight home to Macau. Dizzy and in pain, he told medical workers at the airport he had been sprayed with a chemical. He died while being taken to a hospital.
Suspect Siti Aisyah, 25, was duped into thinking she was part of a comedy show prank, Indonesia's national police chief has said, citing information received from Malaysian authorities. Indonesia's national police chief, Tito Karnavian, told reporters in Indonesia's Aceh province she and another woman performed stunts which involved convincing men to close their eyes and then spraying them with water.
"Such an action was done three or four times and they were given a few dollars for it, and with the last target, Kim Jong-nam, allegedly there were dangerous materials in the sprayer," Karnavian said. "She was not aware that it was an assassination attempt by alleged foreign agents."
Siti's family have said they were shocked to hear of her involvement in the case, describing her as a struggling mother who had travelled to Malaysia for work.
Malaysia is one of just a handful of countries to have full diplomatic ties with North Korea, with each country having an embassy in the other's capital. Malaysia has also been a key place for quiet, semi-official "track two" diplomatic talks between North Korea and the US.
Malaysia said on Friday it wanted DNA samples from Kim Jong-nam's family as part of the autopsy procedure and that officials were not yet willing to hand the body to the North Koreans. Although Kim Jong-nam is believed to have two sons and a daughter with two women living in Beijing and Macau, police in Malaysia say none has come forward to claim the body or provide DNA samples.
"If there is no claim by next-of-kin and upon exhausting all avenues [to obtain DNA], we will finally then hand over the body to the [North Korean] embassy," said Abdul Samah Mat, a senior Malaysian police official. He would not say how long that process might take.
Kim Jong-nam was estranged from his younger half-brother, the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. He reportedly fell out of favour with their father, the late Kim Jong-il, in 2001, when he was caught trying to enter Japan on a false passport to visit Tokyo Disneyland.
Malaysia police arrest Ri Jong Chol, the fourth suspect in attack on Kim Jong-un's half-brother
[URL="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/18/kim-jong-nam-killing-north-korean-man-arrested-as-second-autopsy-peformed#img-1"]
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and half-brother Kim Jong-nam. A fourth suspect has been arrested in connection with the killing of Kim Jong-nam. Photograph: Wong Maye-E, Shizuo Kambayashi/AP
Saturday 18 February 2017 05.04 GMT
Malaysian police said on Saturday they had arrested a North Korean man in connection with the murder of Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The man was identified as Ri Jong Chol, born in 1970. He was arrested on Friday night in Selangor state, the police said in a statement. He is the fourth suspect to be arrested in the investigations surrounding the murder in Kuala Lumpur on Monday.
Authorities are investigating whether Indonesian woman Siti Aisyah and another female suspect killed the 46-year-old North Korean exile in a shopping concourseat the international airport.
On Friday night, Malaysia performed a second autopsy on the estranged half brother of North Korea's leader because the first procedure was inconclusive.
The second autopsy clearly enraged North Korea, which has vowed to reject the results of any procedure and demanded that Malaysia turn over the body immediately. Speaking to reporters outside the morgue late on Friday, Pyongyang's ambassador said Malaysian officials may be "trying to conceal something" and "colluding with hostile forces".
Kim Jong Nam, who was 45 or 46 and had lived in exile for years, suddenly fell ill at the Kuala Lumpur airport on Monday as he waited for a flight home to Macau. Dizzy and in pain, he told medical workers at the airport he had been sprayed with a chemical. He died while being taken to a hospital.
Suspect Siti Aisyah, 25, was duped into thinking she was part of a comedy show prank, Indonesia's national police chief has said, citing information received from Malaysian authorities. Indonesia's national police chief, Tito Karnavian, told reporters in Indonesia's Aceh province she and another woman performed stunts which involved convincing men to close their eyes and then spraying them with water.
"Such an action was done three or four times and they were given a few dollars for it, and with the last target, Kim Jong-nam, allegedly there were dangerous materials in the sprayer," Karnavian said. "She was not aware that it was an assassination attempt by alleged foreign agents."
Siti's family have said they were shocked to hear of her involvement in the case, describing her as a struggling mother who had travelled to Malaysia for work.
Malaysia is one of just a handful of countries to have full diplomatic ties with North Korea, with each country having an embassy in the other's capital. Malaysia has also been a key place for quiet, semi-official "track two" diplomatic talks between North Korea and the US.
Malaysia said on Friday it wanted DNA samples from Kim Jong-nam's family as part of the autopsy procedure and that officials were not yet willing to hand the body to the North Koreans. Although Kim Jong-nam is believed to have two sons and a daughter with two women living in Beijing and Macau, police in Malaysia say none has come forward to claim the body or provide DNA samples.
"If there is no claim by next-of-kin and upon exhausting all avenues [to obtain DNA], we will finally then hand over the body to the [North Korean] embassy," said Abdul Samah Mat, a senior Malaysian police official. He would not say how long that process might take.
Kim Jong-nam was estranged from his younger half-brother, the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. He reportedly fell out of favour with their father, the late Kim Jong-il, in 2001, when he was caught trying to enter Japan on a false passport to visit Tokyo Disneyland.
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"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass