‘Jong-nam was identified based on fingerprints’

A Japanese paper yesterday claimed that Kim Jong-nam was positively identified based on fingerprints provided to Malaysian authorities by Tokyo.

The Japan Times reported that Japan acquired Jong-nam’s fingerprints when he was arrested for attempting to enter the country using a fake passport to visit Tokyo Disneyland in 2001.

“Japan offered data on Jongnam’s physical characteristics, such as fingerprints and mugshots,” the paper wrote, quoting sources.

“The sources also said Malaysia made inquiries to Japan around Feb 22 regarding the location of Jong-nam’s son, Kim Han-sol, who is believed to have been living in Macau.”

The paper also reported that the United States and other countries had also helped in the probe by protecting the family members of Jong-nam as they might be the next target.

Han-sol was seen as key to identifying the body, but had not turned up in Malaysia yet.

However, last week, a video featuring a man claiming to be Hansol emerged online.

The video, titled “KHS Video”, was uploaded to a YouTube channel belonging to a group called Cheollima Civil Defense on Tuesday.

That same day, Channel NewsAsia said it confirmed with Do Hee-youn, an activist with the Citizens’ Coalition for Human Rights of Abductees and North Korean Refugees, that the man in the video was indeed Han-sol.

On Friday, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar confirmed that the North Korean man murdered in klia2 on Feb 13 was Jong-nam, though he had been travelling under the name “Kim Chol”.