Kim Jong-nam murder suspects are ‘hiding in Pyongyang’s embassy in Malaysia’ as it’s claimed mystery intruder tried to steal corpse from morgue
TWO suspects in the Kim Jong-nam killing are reportedly hiding in Pyongyang's embassy in Malaysia, according to senior security sources.
Officials alleged that a senior North Korean diplomat and a state airline official are holed up in the west of the capital after the half-brother of Kim Jong-un was assassinated at Kuala Lumpur airport last week.
It comes after police claimed a mystery intruder had attempted to steal the 45-year-old's corpse from a morgue.
Police in the country where Kim Jong-nam met his end have already arrested two females in connection with the attack.
Investigators probing the attack have put five North Koreans in the frame and have said they are seeking three more for questioning.
Malaysia's top cop Khalid Abu Bakar today said they include the embassy's second secretary, Hyon Kwang Song, as well as a North Korean airline employee called Kim Uk Il.
He said: "We have written to the ambassador to allow us to interview both of them.
"We hope that the Korean embassy will cooperate with us and allow us to interview them quickly.
"If not, we will compel them to come to us.";
But top security officials claim the 44-year-old diplomat is in hiding with the 37-year-old, who works for Air Koryo - North Korea's state-run airline.
A senior security source, who did not want to be named, told the : "Hyon Kwang Song is the supervisor of the whole plot.
"His role was to supervise all arrangements and report to the ambassador.
"He is hiding in the embassy."
Meanwhile, a heavily armed special police force has been deployed to the morgue holding Kim Jong-nam's body after police said there had been an attempt to gain access to the facility.
Khalid declined to provide details of the incident, but local media reported that a South Korean cameraman was detained briefly outside after he was found without ID.
He was released after a colleague confirmed his identity, reports claimed.
Jong-nam died on February 13 after being attacked as he waited for a plane to Macau.
Leaked CCTV footage from the airport shows the 45-year-old being approached by two women, one of whom grabs him from behind and appears to shove a cloth in his face.
Moments later Jong-nam is seen seeking help from airport staff, who direct him to a clinic, where he apparently slumped in a chair.
Malaysian police say he suffered a seizure and died before he reached hospital, seemingly from the effects of a toxin.
Seoul has said from the start that Pyongyang was behind the murder, citing a "standing order" from Jong-un to kill his elder sibling, and a failed assassination bid in 2012.
Asked whether the five North Korean suspects had masterminded the attack, Khalid said he believed they were "heavily involved" in the murder.
Four of the men fled the country on the day of the killing and returned to Pyongyang, he said, while one remains in custody in Malaysia.
The police chief dismissed claims the two women had believed the attack was a made-for-TV prank.
Khalid added: "Of course they knew [it was a poison attack]. I think you have seen the video, right? The lady was moving away with her hands towards the bathroom.
"She was very aware that it was toxic and that she needed to wash her hands."
Khalid said Vietnamese suspect Doan Thi Huong, 28, and Indonesian Siti Aishah, 25, had been trained to swab the man's face, practising in Kuala Lumpur before the assault at the airport.
Aishah wiped a toxic substance in his face first, followed by Huong, the national police chief said.
The Indonesian's Malaysian boyfriend, who was arrested in the first days of the probe, has been released, he added.
But Pierre Champy, a chemist at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, cast doubt on the theory that the toxin acted by passing through the skin.
He said: "I don't know of a toxin powerful enough to act by penetrating the skin that would kill so quickly.
"But it could have been a spray, entering via his lungs or mouth, or a small injection device."
Police also said today that two women suspected of killing Jong-nam were trained to wipe poison on his face.
Officers say the suspected femme fatale assassins – one of them Indonesian, the other Vietnamese – washed their hands soon after wiping poison in Kim's face.
Khalid said the women knew they were handling poisonous materials and ";were warned to take precautions".
He said CCTV shows both suspects keeping their hands away from their bodies as they make their way to toilets to wash their hands after the incident, although those details were not clear in footage obtained by the press.
He also claimed the women had practiced the attack at two Kuala Lumpur malls.
Khalid told reporters: “We strongly believe it is a planned thing and that they have been trained.”
Police say the substance used remains unknown, but it was potent enough to kill Kim before he could even make it to a hospital.
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