A third person has been arrested in connection with the apparent assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's half-brother Kim Jong-nam at Kuala Lumpur airport in Malaysia.
Two women were detained separately on Wednesday and early on Thursday, and Malaysian police later confirmed that officers had also detained a Malaysian man on Wednesday evening.
“He is not the main suspect. We detained him because we needed more information about the second suspect. He is her boyfriend,” Abdul Samah told Malay Mail Online.
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Kim Jong-nam was preparing to fly back to Macau on Tuesday when he was attacked at the airport with what appears to have been a fast acting poison. Malaysian media are saying the poison was splashed on his face. He died en route to hospital and a postmortem on his body has been completed, although the results have not been released.
The two women suspects were identified using CCTV footage from the airport, police said. One of the women was seen wearing a white shirt with the letters “LOL” (laugh out loud) on the front.
North Korea had objected to the autopsy but Malaysia went ahead as the North did not submit a formal protest, said Abdul Samah Mat, a senior police official.
Police said the 26-year-old Malaysian detained had provided information that led to the arrest of a woman who was using Indonesian travel documents.
Malaysia’s official news agency Bernama reported that the woman, who had an Indonesian passport identifying her as 25-year-old Siti Aishah, had been remanded in custody for seven days.
On Wednesday, Malaysian police arrested a first suspect who had a Vietnamese travel document in the name Doan Thi Huong (29), inspector general of police Abu Bakar told Bernama.
Tighter security
Security at Malaysian airports has been tightened to prevent any suspects fleeing the country.
The South Koreans appear convinced it was an assassination by poisoning and that North Korea was behind it. “The cause of death is strongly suspected to be a poisoning attack,” said South Korean parliamentarian Kim Byung-kee, who was briefed by his country’s spy agency.
The attack on Kim, who suddenly fell ill at the airport and died on the way to hospital, was over in five seconds, Malaysian newspaper the New Strait Times (NST) reported on Thursday.
Citing CCTV footage, the paper said Kim was standing in a small crowd near a self check-in counter when one of the alleged attackers stood in front of him to distract him, while another locked him in a chokehold and administered the substance that appears to have killed him.
According to the paper, CCTV appeared to show the suspect who poisoned Kim walking briskly towards a taxi stand wearing a dark-coloured glove on her left hand. When footage picked her up again at the stand, the glove had gone.
Kim was taken to an airport clinic after seeking help for a headache at an information counter, nurses at the airport said. Footage showed Kim with his eyes shut, grimacing in pain at the clinic, NST said.
‘Standing order’
South Korea’s intelligence service said the assassination of Kim Jong-nam has been a “standing order” issued by
Kim Jong-un
since he inherited the leadership in late 2011 following the sudden death of his father
Kim Jong-il
.
There had been a failed attempt in 2012, the agents said. Kim Jong-nam had made critical comments in public against the dynastic succession in North Korea.
Since taking power, Kim Jong-un has executed or purged a number of high-level government officials in what the South Korean government has described as a "reign of terror". This has included Kim Jong-nam's uncle Jang Song Thaek, once North Korea's second-most powerful man, for what Pyongyang said was treason.
As the elder brother, Kim Jong-nam was once considered heir apparent to the leadership, but he fell out of favour in 2001 after he tried to enter Japan with a fake passport, saying he wanted to visit Disneyland.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said the succession issue was the “Achilles’ heel” in terms of the legitimacy of Kim Jong-un’s leadership.
Kim Jong-nam was said to be close to China, with whom North Korea's relations have been somewhat strained of late over Pyongyang's nuclear programme.
According to South Korean intelligence, Kim Jong-nam had been living with his second wife, under Chinese protection, in Macau, and he also had a wife and son in Beijing. He was involved in various business deals with China, including opening special economic zones on the border between the two countries.
On Thursday, North Korea celebrated the 75th birthday of Kim Jong-il, known as the Day of the Shining Star, but there was no mention of the death of his eldest son.
Additional reporting: agencies
