Kim’s identity confirmed using child’s DNA: Malaysia

Malaysia used a DNA sample from one of Kim Jong- nam’s children to confirm the identity of the assassinated half- brother of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong- un, the deputy prime minister said Wednesday.

Investigators “confirmed the identity of the body as Kim Jong- nam based on the sample obtained from his child,” said Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, without elaborating further.

Kim’s killing on February 13 triggered a fierce diplomatic row between Malaysia and North Korea, which have expelled each other’s ambassadors and refused to let their citizens leave.

Ahmad Zahid told reporters the two countries began official talks on Monday to resolve the crisis and bring nine Ma- laysians, who are trapped in Pyongyang, home.

Seoul has blamed Pyongyang for Kim’s death, but the North has rejected those claims and slammed Malaysia’s refusal to hand over his body without a DNA sample from next of kin.

Pyongyang has never confirmed the identity of the victim, who was carrying a passport bearing the name of Kim Chol when he was attacked.

Malaysia officially confirmed his identity on Friday, nearly a month after the murder, but refused to say whether authorities had obtained a DNA sample from next of kin.

Police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said at the time that concerns “for the security of the witnesses” prevented him from revealing further details.

Kim’s wife and children, who were living in exile in the Chinese territory of Macau, staged a vanishing act after the murder. There are fears his 21- year- old son, Kim Han- sol, could be targeted next.

In what may be the first comments by the family since Kim’s death, a young man identifying himself as Han- sol appeared in a video that circulated last week. The claim was later verified by South Korea’s intelligence agency.

But he did not reveal his whereabouts or offer to claim his father’s body, which was embalmed to stop it from decomposing as it lies in a morgue in Kuala Lumpur.