Police to use international protocol to aid Jong-Nam murder probe — IGP

KUALA LUMPU R: T he Malaysian police will abide by international protocol to obtain the cooperat ion of a North Korean embassy official in the investigation into the murder of Kim Jong-nam, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said yesterday.

He said the police would send a request through the Foreign Ministry to the embassy seeking the assistance of second secretary Hyon Kwang-song, 44, because the official had diplomatic immunity.

“Kwang- song has (diplomatic) immunity. We will adhere to international protocol because a senior official of a foreign country is involved.

“This is part of our investigation and the police have their way of investigating the case based on international protocol,” he told reporters after attending a Chinese New Year celebration at Kuala Lumpur Police headquarters here.

Khalid said on Wednesday that Kwang-song was one of two people sought by the police to help the investigation into the killing of Jong-nam, older half- brother of North Korean leader Kim Jongun, on Feb 13. He said the other person is an employee of Koryo Air, a North Korean airline, and had been identified as Kim Uk-il, 37.

As Uk-il did not have diplomatic immunity, the police had requested him to come forward to give a statement, he said, adding that a warrant for his arrest would be issued if he did not turn up.

Khalid had said police believed that the two people were still in Malaysia.

Jong-nam was at the KL International Airport 2 (klia2) at 8am on Feb 13 to board a flight to Macau an hour later when two women suddenly appeared before him and wiped his face with the palms of their hands which contained a poisonous liquid.

Jong-nam sought help at a customer service counter at the airport and was rushed to the Putrajaya Hospital but died on the way.

He had come to Malaysia on Feb 6 and carried a passport bearing the name Kim Chol.

Khalid denied an international news report that Malaysian police had sent a special team to Macau to obtain DNA samples from the next- of-kin of Jongnam.

“That is not true at all. The police have neither sent any team to obtain DNA samples from anyone nor received any DNA samples because the investigation is ongoing,” he said.

Asked about the request of the North Korean embassy to be involved in the investigation, Khalid said the police had never asked the embassy to help with the probe.

“We only asked to question the second secretary,” he said.

Khalid denied that the case could undermine national security, saying it was just a crime. — Bernama