Malaysian police investigating the assassination of the half-brother of North Korea’s leader reportedly said Thursday they have detained a second woman in connection with the killing.
A 28-year-old woman, who was carrying a Vietnamese passport, was arrested the previous day after reports said two female assassins sprayed toxins in the victim’s face at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar confirmed the detention of the second woman to Malaysia’s Bernama news agency. It was later confirmed the second suspect had been carrying an Indonesian passport.
Selangor state police chief Abdul Samah Mat said earlier that officers were looking for several suspects.
The two women struck on Monday as Kim Jong-nam was readying to board a flight to Macau where he has spent many years in exile, South Korea’s spy chief Lee Byung-ho has said, pointing the finger of blame at the North.
The first woman is due to appear in court on Thursday.
CCTV images that emerged in Malaysian media, purportedly of one of the suspects, showed an Asian woman wearing a white top with the letters “LOL” emblazoned on the front.
Kim’s body was on Thursday being held at Kuala Lumpur Hospital following an autopsy, the results of which have not yet been released.
Malaysian media cited unnamed official sources as saying North Korea had requested the body, but Abdul Samah said on Wednesday that nobody had come forward and that it would remain in the morgue until it was claimed.
However, North Korean embassy officials were seen visiting the hospital’s forensics department in a diplomatic vehicle on Wednesday afternoon and again overnight.
If confirmed, the assassination, which analysts said could have been ordered over reports Kim was readying to defect, would be the highest-profile death under the watch of the North’s young leader Kim Jong-un. (AFP)