NAN-F-9
Ambassador
Kuala Lumpur, Feb. 20, 2017 (dpa/NAN) North Korea “cannot trust the investigation” by Malaysian police into the death last week of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s half-brother, Pyongyang’s ambassador to Malaysia said Monday.
“The investigation by the Malaysian police is not for the clarification of the cause of the death and search of the suspect, but it is out of the political aim,” Amb. Kang Chol told reporters outside the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur.
The envoy said he thinks there is evidence that “South Korea [was] involved in this incident,” adding that he believed “Malaysia was in collusion with South Korea from the first step.”
He also demanded to meet with the two female suspects arrested last week in connection with the killing.
In another developmeny, Malaysia’s Foreign Ministry summoned the North Korean ambassador on Monday, saying he had insinuated that Kuala Lumpur had “something to conceal” following the killing of Kim Jong Nam.
According to a ministry statement, Amb. Kang had alleged that Malaysia was “colluding and playing into the gallery of external forces”.
He said at a press conference after the death of Kim, the half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
The ministry said it had also recalled its ambassador to Pyongyang.
Kim Jong Nam died Tuesday, after two women apparently sprayed a poisonous substance into his face at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
Four people have been arrested in connection with his killing.
Kang had strongly criticised Malaysia’s handling of the incident and said that Pyongyang would “categorically reject” the results of any postmortem conducted without its permission.
He also complained that North Korea’s request to claim the body had been rejected.
The Foreign Ministry said the criticism was “baseless” and that the postmortem was carried out in accordance with Malaysian law as it was classified as a sudden death.
It said that Pyongyang had been told the body would be handed to next of kin when the investigation was complete.
On Sunday, a South Korean Defence Ministry spokesman accused Pyongyang of responsibility for the death of 45-year-old Kim, the eldest of former dictator Kim Jong three sons.
An Indonesian woman, a Vietnamese woman, a Malaysian man and a North Korean man have been arrested over the attack over the weekend.
The police said that another four North Korean suspects had fled the country.
The women involved have reportedly said they thought they were taking part in a television prank.
Japanese broadcaster Fuji TV on Monday published grainy CCTV footage on YouTube of what it said was the attack being carried out.
The clip shows a man, supposedly Kim, entering the airport and looking at the departures board, and later shows two women approaching him.
One of them, wearing a white top, appears to reach over his head from behind. The women then move quickly away.
The footage then shows the man approaching an airport worker for help, apparently using hand gestures to indicate that someone had wiped his face with liquid.
The airport worker then brings the man to three policemen, and he is seen making the same gestures. One of them takes him to the airport clinic. (dpa/NAN)
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Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Sadiya Hamza