Body of Kim Jong-nam under armed guard after morgue break

Among the wanted are the second secretary at Pyongyang’s embassy in Kuala Lumpur and a North Korean airline employee, Khalid told reporters.

“We have written to the ambassador to allow us to interview both of them”, he said. “We know who they are”, Bakar said.

Jong Nam, 45, was attacked by two women in the crowded departure terminal at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on February 13. Malaysian officials say they are looking for additional suspects.

Kim Jong Nam, 46, who had been living in the Chinese territory of Macau under Beijing’s protection, had spoken out publicly against his family’s dynastic control of isolated, nuclear-armed North Korea.

Security camera video from the airport shows one of the women seizing Kim from behind and forcibly holding something over his face.

Mr Khalid also dismissed claims by the two female suspects that they had believed the attack was a made-for-TV prank.

But the North Korean Embassy in Kuala Lumpur has already ridiculed the police account and demanded the immediate release of the two “innocent women”.

Four other male suspects, all North Korean, reportedly have fled the country.

7 suspects are at large, 4 of them, all North Korean, left the country on the day of the attack. North Korea has objected to Malaysia carrying out a post-mortem, and to the singling out of North Korean suspects. However, the cause of death is yet to be determined by lab results.

Khalid declined to give further details, but the senior police source told Channel NewsAsia that it was a reporter who tried to break into the mortuary. Authorities are still trying to determine what type of poison was used in the attack.

Malaysia has cited the need to carry out an investigation as Mr Kim died on their soil.

Highly sophisticated facilities, such as in Japan or at the FBI’s crime lab in the USA, are among those that have greater capabilities for discovering unusual toxic substances.

The case has perplexed leading forensic toxicologists who study murder by poison. “My aunt is a very nice and kind person, but she could easily trust in other people”, she said. While trade between North Korea and Malaysia totaled just $5.1 million in 2015, that’s a serious number in a country that exported just $3.1 billion in goods in 2014, and imported just $3.9 billion.

Tensions between North Korea and Malaysia have escalated since Mr Kim’s death, with a row building over custody of the victim’s body and Pyongyang’s criticism over the handling of the investigation.

The spokesman criticised Malaysia side for conducting an autopsy without any prior agreement with North Korea.

The body of Kim Jong-nam has been targeted in a morgue break-in.

On Monday, Malaysia recalled its envoy to North Korea.

He sought help at a customer service counter and was rushed to the Putrajaya Hospital but died on the way.