Newsmen’s focus on hospital mortuary dies down
The media attention at Kuala Lumpur Hospital mortuary, where North Korean murder victim Kim Jongnam’s body is being kept, has slowly died down, with only a handful of pressmen still camping outside.
Less than 10 news organisations, both local and international, sent representatives there yesterday, a far cry from the 100 or so journalists and cameramen who had been staking out the mortuary for the past few weeks.
To those used to seeing the newsmen gathering there, the place may have seemed a little deserted.
While tensions between Malaysia and North Korea resulting from Jong-nam’s assassination are now the main focus of coverage for the press, there was no mistaking that security around the mortuary remained tight.
Those wishing to enter the compound are still subject to questioning, and only those on official business are allowed into the area.
Reporters and cameramen, meanwhile, are still being denied access to the mortuary.
But the New Straits Times observed that there were fewer policemen stationed there compared with the middle of February, when the remains of the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had been transferred there from Putrajaya Hospital.
The daily stakeout, however, is expected to continue until Jong-nam’s remains are claimed, ostensibly by family members.
This is because there is still no word of when his next-of-kin would arrive to provide DNA samples for comparison, so that his identity can be confirmed beyond doubt.
There is also the possibility that a second post-mortem may be carried out, should the lawyers of either or both of the women accused of his murder be successful in any such application.