 |
| Kim Jong-Nam (Image: Flickr User - Conecta Abogados) |
SEOUL/KUALA LUMPUR (Kyodo) -- South Korea's government said Wednesday it is certain that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's elder half-brother has been murdered in Malaysia.
Malaysian police are looking for two women who are suspected of attacking 45-year-old Kim Jong Nam at Kuala Lumpur's international airport on Monday.
A Japanese government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said information suggesting that the pair might already be dead has been received, while one Malaysian news site published what it claimed were CCTV images of one of the attackers.
Malaysia's Oriental Daily claimed a taxi driver who ferried the two attackers following the incident had been arrested.
South Korea's Unification Ministry, which confirmed his death, did not provide further details, but the country's spy agency said it believes North Korea has been trying to assassinate the estranged brother since around five years ago.
The National Intelligence Service believes that the death was the result of poison, adding that Chinese authorities had taken a large role in guarding Kim Jong Nam, the eldest son of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.
Read the full story at The Mainichi