Pyongyang takes swipe at Malaysia

Says Kuala Lumpur is playing politics with corpse of leader’s assassinated brother

SEOUL // North Korea’s state media broke a 10-day silence yesterday on the murder of Kim Jong- un’s half brother, launching a ferocious assault on Malaysia for what it said was an immoral handling of the case and for “playing politics” with the corpse.

It said Malaysia bore responsibility for the death and accused it of conspiring with South Korea.

“Malaysia is obliged to hand his body to North Korea side but it conducted an autopsy and forensic examination in an illegal and immoral manner,” said the North’s jurists committee.

Malaysia did not release the corpse “under the absurd pretext” that it needed a DNA sample from the victim’s family.

“This proves that the Malaysian side is going to politicise the transfer of the body in utter disregard of international law and morality,” it said.

Throughout its lengthy dispatch, Korea’s news agency avoided any reference to the victim’s identity, calling him only a citizen of North Korea bearing a diplomatic passport.

South Korea is reportedly using giant loudspeakers to blast news of Kim’s dramatic assassination across the border with its secretive neighbour.

Kim died on February 13 after being attacked by two women at a Kuala Lumpur airport in what is suspected to be a murder planned by Pyongyang.

Although the North’s state media did not identify the victim in its scathing denouncement of the Malaysian investigation yesterday, the South this week deployed high-decibel loudspeakers, which have a range of about 10 kilometres, to ensure details of the death of Kim reverberated through the border area, according to a Seoul TV station. “Kim Jong- nam died after being attacked by two unidentified women at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia,” blared the message from the speakers.

“Malaysian authorities said four suspects are North Korean nationals, including one who has been arrested,” it said.

Malaysian detectives are holding three people but want to speak to seven others, including diplomat Hyon Kwangsong.

But Malaysia’s top policeman said yesterday that unless Mr Hyon, second secretary at the North Korean mission, volunteered to do so, they would not be able to approach him.

Malaysian police believe four North Korean suspects may have fled to Pyongyang immediately after the murder.