NK slams Malaysia over airport death
Print Edition
NORTH Korea’s ambassador in Kuala Lumpur yesterday denounced Malaysia’s investigation into the killing of the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, calling it politically motivated and demanding a joint investigation into the death.
The comments from Kang Chol came amid rising tensions between North Korea and Malaysia over the death, with Malaysia recalling its ambassador to Pyongyang over what it called “baseless” allegations.
Kim Jong Nam died last week after apparently being poisoned in a Kuala Lumpur airport. Security camera footage obtained by Japanese television appeared to show a careful and deliberate attack in which a woman comes up from behind him and holds something over his mouth.
Pyongyang demanded custody of Kim’s body and strongly objected to an autopsy. The Malaysians went ahead nonetheless. An official with knowledge of the investigation said a second autopsy had been conducted because the first was inconclusive. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
Malaysian authorities say they were simply following procedures, but Ambassador Kang questioned their motives.
“The investigation by the Malaysian police is not for the clarification of the cause of the death and search for the suspect, but it is out of the political aim,” Kang told reporters yesterday. He referred to the dead man as “Kim Chol,” the name on the passport found with Kim Jong Nam. Police “pinned the suspicion on us,” Kang said.
Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak told reporters later that he had “absolute confidence” that police and doctors had been “very objective” in their work. Najib said Malaysia had no reason to “paint the North Koreans in a bad light.”
Kang previously said Malaysia might be “trying to conceal something.” The Malaysian foreign ministry said yesterday it had recalled its ambassador to Pyongyang “for consultations” and had summoned Kang to a meeting, “to seek an explanation on the accusations he made.”
The statement called Kang’s comments “baseless.”
Police investigating the killing have so far arrested four people carrying identity documents from North Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam. Those arrested include two women who were allegedly seen approaching Kim on February 13 as he stood at a ticketing kiosk at the budget terminal of the Kuala Lumpur airport.
Surveillance video footage, obtained by Fuji TV and often grainy and blurred, seems to show the two women approaching Kim Jong Nam from different directions. One comes up behind him and appears to hold something over his mouth for a few seconds. Then the women turn and calmly walk off in different directions.
More footage shows Kim, a long-estranged scion of the family that has ruled North Korea for three generations, walking up to airport officials, gesturing at his eyes and seemingly asking for help.
Fuji TV has not revealed how it acquired the video footage, which was taken by a series of security cameras as Kim arrived for a flight to Macau, where he had a home.
Kim, in his mid-40s, died shortly after the attack, en route to a hospital after suffering a seizure, Malaysian officials say.
Malaysia’s deputy national police chief, Noor Rashid Ibrahim, said on Sunday that Kim had told airport customer service workers that “two unidentified women had swabbed or had wiped his face with a liquid and that he felt dizzy.”
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