Top News: NK slams Malaysia over murder

China denies sending more troops to N. Korean border

North Korea’s state media broke a 10- day silence Thursday on the murder of Kim Jongun’s half- brother, launching a ferocious assault on Malaysia for “immoral” handling of the case and for playing politics with the corpse.

In its first comments on the airport killing of Kim Jongnam, the Korean Central News Agency ( KCNA) said Malaysia bore responsibility for the death, and accused it of conspiring with South Korea.

“Malaysia is obliged to hand his body to the DPRK ( North Korea) side as it made an autopsy and forensic examination of it in an illegal and immoral manner”, the North’s Korean Jurists Committee said, in comments carried by the state- run news agency.

Malaysia has not released the corpse “under the absurd pretext” that it needs a DNA sample from the dead man’s family, it said.

“This proves that the Malaysian side is going to politicize the transfer of the body in utter disregard of international law and morality and thus attain a sinister purpose,” the committee said.

Malaysian police have still to receive DNA samples from Kim Jong- nam’s next of kin, Malaysia’s police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said. He also denied that Malaysian police officers had been sent to Macau, according to a Reuters report on Thursday.

Throughout its lengthy dispatch, KCNA avoided any reference to the dead man’s identity, calling him only “a citizen of the DPRK bearing a diplomatic passport.”

North Korea has never acknowledged him as the estranged half- brother of its lead- er, AFP reported.

Leaked CCTV footage from the brazen attack last Monday shows the portly Kim being approached by two women who appear to put something in his face. Moments later he is seen asking for help from airport staff, who direct him to a clinic.

Malaysian police said he suffered a seizure and died before reaching hospital.

An autopsy has ruled out heart failure, with investigators focusing on the theory that a toxin was applied to his face, in what South Korea has insisted was a targeted assassination.

Malaysian detectives are holding three people – women from Indonesia and Vietnam, and a North Korean man – but want to speak to seven others, including diplomat Hyon Kwang- song.

But Malaysia’s top policeman acknowledged Thursday that unless Hyon, second secretary at the North Korean mission, volunteers himself, they will be unable to speak to him.

“We will adhere to the rules of immunity,” Khalid said. “We cannot go inside the embassy.”

Malaysian police think four North Korean suspects may have fled to Pyongyang immediately after the killing.

Pyongyang’s statement, issued in both English and Korean, repeated the North’s demand for a joint investigation, stressing it was ready to dispatch a delegation.

Separately, Chinese defense ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang denied on Thursday that China sent 1,000 additional troops to its border with North Korea after the assassination, dismissing a Hong Kong media report as groundless.