FILE
- This May 4, 2001, file photo shows Kim Jong Nam, exiled half brother
of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, escorted by Japanese police
officers at the airport in Narita, Japan. Kim Jong Nam, 46, was targeted
Monday, Feb. 13, 2017, in the Kuala Lumpur International Airport,
Malaysia, and later died on the way to the hospital, according to a
Malaysian government official. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye, File)
KUALA
LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian authorities announced two more
arrests Thursday in the death of the North Korean leader's half brother,
whose apparent assassination this week unleashed a wave of speculation
and intrigue: a pair of female assailants, a broad-daylight killing and a
dictator-sibling out for blood.
Investigators
were still piecing together details of the case, including the
widespread assumption that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un dispatched a
hit squad to kill his estranged half brother, Kim Jong Nam. Known for
his love of gambling and casinos, Kim Jong Nam had lived abroad for
years, aware he was a hunted man.
Three
suspects — two women and a man — were arrested separately Wednesday and
Thursday. The women were identified using surveillance videos from
Kuala Lumpur International Airport, where Kim Jong Nam, who was 45 or
46, suddenly fell ill Monday morning.
Malaysian
officials said he died on the way to a hospital after telling medical
workers at the airport that he had been sprayed with a chemical.
Multiple
South Korean media reports, citing unidentified sources, said two women
believed to be North Korean agents killed him with some kind of poison
before fleeing in a taxi.
One
of the female suspects had Vietnamese travel documents and was picked
up Wednesday at the budget terminal of the airport, the same place where
the attack took place. The other woman held an Indonesian passport and
was arrested early Thursday.
Police
said they were working to determine if the IDs were genuine. It was not
immediately clear if the women were believed to be the actual
assassins.
Indonesian
diplomats met with the second suspect and confirmed she is an
Indonesian citizen, officials said. Authorities identified her as Siti
Aisyah, 25, originally from Serang in Banten, a province that neighbors
the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.
Indonesian
Immigration Office spokesman Agung Sampurno said officials from the
Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur met with the woman in Selangor state,
where she is being held, and ensured she is in safe condition.
"They
were allowed to see her but cannot make any questions," said Sampurno.
"However, the team can confirm that Aisyah is Indonesian."
News
of the third arrest came Thursday afternoon. Police said they had
detained a Malaysian man who was believed to be the boyfriend of the
Indonesian suspect.
Medical
workers also completed an autopsy on Kim Jong Nam, but the results have
not been released. The findings could reveal whether he was actually
poisoned.
North
Korea had objected to the autopsy but Malaysia went ahead with it
anyway because the North did not submit a formal protest, said Abdul
Samah Mat, a senior Malaysian police official.
On
Thursday, Malaysian Deputy Home Minister Zahid Hamidi said security is a
top priority for the government and the authorities had acted swiftly
and efficiently.
Asked
at a news conference why Malaysia failed to protect Kim Jong Nam, Zahid
said: "What do you mean? Do we have to engage a bodyguard and usher him
everywhere? No."
Kim
Jong Nam was estranged from his younger half brother, North Korean
leader Kim Jong Un, and had been living abroad for years. He reportedly
fell out of favor when he was caught trying to enter Japan on a false
passport in 2001, saying he wanted to visit Tokyo Disneyland.
Kim
Jong Nam was the son of Kim Jong Il, North Korea's second leader, and
Sung Hye Rim, an actress who analysts say was forced to divorce her
first husband to live in secret with the future leader in 1970, a year
before their son was born.
He
was reportedly educated in Geneva and Moscow in his early teens and
became fluent in English, French and Russian. After Kim Jong Il's death
in 2011, Kim Jong Nam complained that Kim Jong Un, the country's new
leader, was failing to treat him with respect and send him enough money,
according to Cheong Seong-Chang, an analyst at South Korea's Sejong
Institute.
However,
Kim Jong Nam refrained from openly criticizing the North and kept a low
profile after Kim Jong Un executed his uncle and former protector Jang
Song Thaek, once considered the country's second-most powerful person,
in 2013.
Since taking power, Kim Jong Un has executed or purged a number of high-level government officials.
The
National Intelligence Service said North Korea had been trying for five
years to kill Kim Jong Nam, and that he had sent a letter to Kim Jong
Un in April 2012, begging for the lives of himself and his family.
Officials
from South Korea's spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, told
lawmakers that Kim Jong Nam leaves behind two sons and a daughter with
two women living in Beijing and Macau.
___
Associated Press writers Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, and Tim Sullivan in New Delhi contributed to this report.
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