3rd suspect held after hit on Kim Jong Nam
MALAYSIAN police have arrested a third person in connection with the apparent assassination of the half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Two women, suspected of being those who attacked Kim Jong Nam with poisonous liquid, appeared in court yesterday and were remanded for a week. Meanwhile, police said they had arrested a man believed to be the boyfriend of one of the women.
Separately, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Malaysia’s deputy prime minister, confirmed the slain man was indeed Kim Jong Nam, the son of former leader Kim Jong Il and older halfbrother of Kim Jong Un.
The first woman to have been arrested – she was travelling on a Vietnamese passport that identified her as Doan Thi Huong, 29 – told police she was tricked into attacking Kim Jong Nam, saying she thought she was just playing a prank on the man.
She also said she was abandoned by the other woman and four men involved in the attack. They had all been staying at a hotel not far from the airport, but the other five left her, she told police, leading to her trying to fly to Vietnam from the terminal where the attack took place.
The two women are thought to have attacked Kim Jong Nam on Monday as he went to check in for a flight to Macau, his main base since he went into exile about 15 years ago. One of the women is alleged to have grabbed him while the other sprayed his face with a chemical and held a cloth over it for 10 seconds. They then left. Kim Jong Nam sought help, complaining of dizziness.
He was put into an ambulance and died on the way to the hospital.
South Korea’s intelligence chief has blamed the attack on Kim Jong Un, saying that the young North Korean leader was trying to eliminate potential rivals.
Five years ago, when he took power, Kim Jong Un issued a “standing order” to have his half brother assassinated, said South Korean spy chief Lee Byung-ho. This was not the first attempt on Kim Jong Nam’s life. One in 2012 prompted him to send a letter to his brother pleading with him to “spare me and my family”.