Korea man held over Kim Jong Nam airport murder

With seven other North Korean men believed to be involved in the incident still at large, the release of Ri underscores the difficulty investigators face piecing together the February 13 killing, observers said.

Jong-nam was at the klia2 on Feb 13 to board a flight to Macau when two women suddenly appeared before him and allegedly wiped his face with the palms of their hands which contained what was later identified as the VX nerve agent.

That could all begin to change in the wake of Kim’s death.

Police never said what they believed Ri’s role was in the attack on Kim at Kuala Lumpur’s airport.

North Korea had earlier tried to convince Malaysia not to perform an autopsy on Mr. Kim’s body and to release three suspects detained in connection with the killing. Two women – one Indonesian, one Vietnamese – have been charged with murder in the case, although both reportedly say they were duped into thinking they were playing a harmless prank.

Neither woman was asked to enter a plea Wednesday and their trial is not expected to begin for several months.

Pyongyang has protested a Malaysian murder investigation into his death, with police naming an embassy officer as suspect.

Huong was seen wearing a bulletproof vest as she was escorted out of the building and looked exhausted as she was led away.

North Korea is widely speculated to be behind the killing, particularly after Malaysia said that VX had killed Kim.

She was “distressed”, he told Reuters. The measures included seeking a lawyer for Huong in line with Malaysia’s legal regulations, the Consular Department said.

Deputy Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya (pic) said his ministry would be able to process the information quickly once it is able to obtain the documents.

The vehicle carrying Ri, who wore a bullet proof vest, was escorted by a six police-car convoy and motorcycle outriders.

More than 100 heavily armed police, some wearing balaclavas and wielding automatic weapons, had secured the court.

Seoul has said from the start that the isolated North is behind the Cold War-style assassination.

North Korea warned Saturday the US will “pay dearly” if it puts Pyongyang on a terror list over the killing of its leader’s half-brother, as a suspect in the murder claimed the man was the victim of a conspiracy.

Malaysia is one of the few countries that North Koreans could visit without a visa, and Malaysians are among the few nationalities granted visa-free entry to the secretive, nuclear-armed state. The world must stand united with Malaysia and not permit North Korea to mislead and bully the global community to do whatever it pleases.

Kim’s body remains in a mortuary in Kuala Lumpur until a relative of Kim claims the body, providing a DNA sample of the claimer.