Tag Archives: Assassination

South Korea says North Korean ministries organized assassination in Malaysia

Kim Jong Nam arrives at Beijing airport in Beijing, China, in this photo taken by Kyodo February 11, 2007.

By Ju-min Park

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean intelligence believes suspects wanted for the murder of the half-brother of North Korea’s leader included several officials who worked for the reclusive state’s foreign and security ministries, according to lawmakers in Seoul.

Kim Jong Nam was killed earlier this month at a Malaysian airport by assassins using VX nerve agent, a chemical capable of killing in minutes and listed by the United Nations as a weapon of mass destruction.

South Korea is acutely sensitive to developments in its unpredictable nuclear-armed neighbor, and intelligence agency officials have briefed lawmakers on the sensational killing of the estranged half-brother of the North’s leader Kim Jong Un.

North Korea has not acknowledged the victim is Kim Jong Nam. But South Korean and U.S. officials believe Kim, who had criticized his family’s control of the isolated state, was assassinated by agents of the North.

“Among eight suspects in this case four are from the ministry of state security and two who actually took action are from the foreign ministry,” Lee Cheol-woo, one of the lawmakers briefed by South Korean intelligence, told reporters.

“That is why it is a case of terrorism led by the state, directly organized by the ministry of state security and the foreign ministry,” Lee added.

Malaysian police have identified a total of eight North Koreans as suspects or as wanted for questioning. These include a North Korean embassy official believed to still be in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia’s health minister Subramaniam Sathasivam said on Sunday that Kim Jong Nam died within 15-20 minutes of being assaulted by two women who are believed to have smeared VX on his face.

He had been at Kuala Lumpur International airport to catch a flight to Macau, the Chinese territory where he had been living under Beijing’s protection.

The women, Indonesian and Vietnamese citizens, are in police custody and have told officials from their respective embassies that they believed they were taking part in a TV prank.

THREE TEAMS

Another South Korean lawmaker briefed by the intelligence agency, Kim Byung-kee, said the North Koreans had operated in three teams.

Two teams, each including officials from both North Korea’s state security and foreign ministries, were responsible for hiring women in Indonesia and Vietnam and bringing them to Malaysia to carry out the attack. The third team provided “support”.

He said South Korean intelligence said the North’s embassy official in Kuala Lumpur, Hyon Kwang Song, was linked to the state security ministry and part of the support team.

Malaysian police have said they may issue an arrest warrant for the diplomat if he does not cooperate, but it is unclear if they can do so given he has diplomatic immunity.

The one North Korean in police custody, Ri Jong Chol, was also believed to have been part of the support team, said Kim Byung-kee.

Malaysian authorities have not commented on the roles that any of the North Koreans played in the killing.

The investigation into the killing, and Malaysia’s refusal to hand over the body to North Korea before it is officially identified by the victim’s next of kin, has caused a diplomatic rift between two hitherto friendly governments.

(Additional reporting by Jack Kim; Writing by Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

Malaysia to sweep Kuala Lumpur airport for toxic chemicals after Kim Jong Nam murder

Malaysian Police officers gather before a protest organized by Members of the youth wing of the National Front, Malaysia's ruling coalition, in front of the North Korea embassy, following the murder of Kim Jong Nam, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, February 23, 2017. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

By Emily Chow and Christophe Van Der Perre

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia will sweep one of the terminals at Kuala Lumpur international airport for toxic chemicals after Kim Jong Nam was murdered there with a nerve agent last week, as authorities said they would issue an arrest warrant if a North Korean diplomat wanted over the death did not come forward.

Kim Jong Nam was murdered on Feb. 13 at the budget terminal of Kuala Lumpur’s main airport with VX nerve agent, a chemical classified by the United Nations as a weapon of mass destruction.

The police forensic team, fire department and the Atomic Energy Licensing Board will be conducting the sweep at the airport, Malaysian cops said in a statement on Saturday.

The sweep will be conducted from 1 a.m. on Feb. 26 (1700 GMT on Feb. 25), the police said.

The airport terminal will not be closed, but the search areas would be cordoned off, a police official told Reuters.

VX is one of the deadliest chemical weapons created by man: just 10 milligrams of the nerve agent or a single drop is enough to kill in minutes, experts have said.

Kim Jong Nam was waiting at the departure hall when he was attacked by two women who splashed his face with the liquid. He died en route to hospital.

Malaysian police on Friday said one of the women had suffered from the effects of VX and had been vomiting.

The two women – one Indonesian and one Vietnamese – have been detained, along with a North Korean man. Seven other North Koreans have been named as suspects or are wanted for questioning.

Malaysian police are also sweeping other locations in Kuala Lumpur the suspects may have visited.

Selangor state police chief Abdul Samah Mat said earlier on Saturday authorities raided an apartment in an upscale Kuala Lumpur suburb earlier this week in connection with the killing, and were checking for any traces of chemicals in the apartment.

DIPLOMAT WANTED

Samah also said 44-year-old Hyon Kwang Song, a second secretary at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, wanted for questioning in the murder has yet to come forward. He is one of the seven North Koreans wanted in connection with the case.

“Reasonable” time will be given for the diplomat to come forward before police take further action, Samah said, adding that if the diplomat did not cooperate, the police would issue a notice under Malaysian law, compelling him to appear before the investigation team.

“And if he failed to turn up upon given this notice, then we will go to the next step by getting a warrant of arrest from the court,” he told reporters.

It was unclear if the embassy official can be detained since police have said he has diplomatic immunity.

Four others are believed to have fled to North Korea, while two are still in Malaysia. The whereabouts of another North Korean, Ri Ji U, are unknown, Samah said.

“PRANK WITH BABY OIL”

Meanwhile, Indonesian embassy officials on Saturday met with their national Siti Aishah – one of the suspects detained in connection with the murder – for the first time since her arrest.

Aishah told embassy officials that she believed she was part of a reality television show when she lunged at Kim Jong Nam at the airport with what she believed was baby oil.

She said she had been paid 400 Malaysian ringgit ($90.15) to participate in the act.

“She only said in general that somebody asked her to do this activity… She said she was given a kind of oil, like baby oil,” Indonesian deputy ambassador Andreano Erwin told reporters after meeting Aishah.

She will be detained until March 1, after which police will decide whether to prosecute or release her, Erwin said.

Vietnamese officials also met with their national but declined to comment.

Malaysian police have said the two women had rehearsed the attack before carrying it out and had been instructed to wash their hands afterwards.

(Additional reporting by Rozanna Latiff and Ebrahim Harris; Writing by A. Ananthalakshmi and Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by Kim Coghill, Shri Navaratnam and Ros Russell)

Malaysia requests Interpol alert on four North Koreans over airport murder

Kim Jong Nam arrives at Beijing airport in Beijing, China, in this photo taken by Kyodo February 11, 2007. Picture taken February 11, 2007. Kyodo/via REUTERS

By Rozanna Latiff

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia has requested Interpol to put an alert out to apprehend four North Korean suspects in the murder of the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Malaysia’s police chief said on Thursday.

Kim Jong Nam, who was killed in Kuala Lumpur’s main airport on Feb. 13, had spoken out publicly in the past against his family’s dynastic control of the isolated, nuclear-armed state.

South Korean and U.S. officials say he was assassinated by North Korean agents. North Korea has not acknowledged his death.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Malaysian police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said the two women – one Vietnamese, one Indonesian – arrested last week had been paid for carrying out the fatal assault on Kim Jong Nam using a fast-acting poison.

He declined to say if they had been used by a foreign intelligence agency.

Police are also holding one North Korean man, but are seeking another seven in connection with the murder.

Hyon Kwang Song, a second secretary at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, and Kim Uk Il, an employee of state-owned airline Air Koryo, are among three North Koreans wanted for questioning who are still believed to be in Malaysia.

Khalid told reporters that a request had been made to Interpol to put out an alert to apprehend the other four, who are believed to have made their way back to North Korea, having fled Malaysia on the day of the killing..

Khalid said a police request has been sent to the North Korean embassy requesting to interview the diplomat and airline employee.

“If you have nothing to hide, you should not be afraid to cooperate, you should cooperate,” Khalid said.

He said an arrest warrant would not be issued for the embassy official, as he has diplomatic immunity, but that “the process of the law will take place” if the airline official does not come forward.

Earlier on Thursday, an official from the North Korea embassy in Kuala Lumpur said no formal request to interview either man had been received, and he did not respond when asked if the embassy would cooperate should it receive one.

Meantime, Indonesia has sought consular access to Siti Aishah, the Indonesian woman held in detention.

“I have instructed our foreign minister to provide assistance…and protection to Siti Aishah through a lawyer. So there can be some clarity on whether or not she is a victim,” Indonesian President Joko Widodo said in Jakarta.

DIPLOMATIC ROW

A friendship between Malaysia and North Korea, going back to the 1970s, has soured in the wake of Kim Jong Nam’s murder.

North Korea unsuccessfully tried to prevent an autopsy, accusing Malaysia of working with South Korean and other “hostile forces.”

Malaysia responded by recalling its ambassador to Pyongyang for consultations.

North Korea’s ambassador to Kuala Lumpur has said the Malaysian investigation cannot be trusted, and that the three suspects that have been detained should be released immediately.

And on Thursday, North Korea’s state-run KCNA news agency reported that Pyongyang blamed Malaysia for its citizen’s death and accused it of adopting an “unfriendly attitude”.

The KCNA report only referred to the murder victim as a “citizen”, as Pyongyang rejects reports that it is the half brother of the country’s leader.

Malaysian police have still to receive DNA samples from Kim Jong Nam’s next of kin, Khalid said. He also denied that Malaysian police officers had been sent to Macau, the Chinese territory where Kim Jong Nam and his family had been living under Beijing’s protection.

(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Writing by A. Ananthalakshmi; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

Malaysia says still to establish what killed North Korean

Malaysian police officers gather in front of the gate of the morgue at Kuala Lumpur General Hospital where Kim Jong Nam's body is held for autopsy in Malaysia February 21, 2017. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

By Joseph Sipalan and Rozanna Latiff

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysian authorities said on Tuesday they had still to establish what was used to kill the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and the body had not been formally identified as no next of kin have come forward.

Kim Jong Nam was killed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Feb. 13 with what police believe was a fast-acting poison. Malaysia’s deputy prime minister has previously named the victim as Kim Jong Nam, though authorities have been unable to conduct DNA tests.

“The cause of death and identity are still pending,” Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, director general of health at Malaysia’s health ministry, told reporters.

The health ministry official said no DNA samples had been received from the next of kin.

South Korean and U.S. officials have said they believe North Korean agents assassinated Kim Jong Nam, who had been living in the Chinese territory of Macau under Beijing’s protection.

Malaysia has urged Kim Jong Nam’s next-of-kin to claim the body and help with the inquiry, which has sparked a diplomatic row with North Korea, whose officials want the body handed over directly.

Malaysia recalled its envoy from Pyongyang after North Korea’s ambassador in Kuala Lumpur cast doubt on the impartiality of Malaysia’s investigation and said the victim was not Kim Jong Nam.

North Korean ambassador Kang Chol said on Monday that his country “cannot trust” Malaysia’s handling of the probe into the killing.

Responding on Tuesday, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak denounced the ambassador’s comments and reiterated that the investigation would be fair.

“The statement by the ambassador was totally uncalled for. It was diplomatically rude. But Malaysia will stand firm,” Najib told reporters.

Authorities have still to release an autopsy report.

But, the health ministry official said a post mortem examination carried out two days after the death found no evidence of a heart attack or of any puncture wounds on the body.

Malaysian police have arrested a North Korean suspect, and say that four other North Koreans fled the country later on the day of the attack.

Two women from Vietnam and Indonesia have also been arrested on suspicion of carrying out the assault on Kim Jong Nam. There is speculation that they administered a poison by wiping it or spraying it on his face.

Airport camera footage released on Monday by Japanese broadcaster Fuji TV shows the moment the women appeared to assault Kim Jong Nam, who is later seen asking airport officials for medical help.

Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of that footage.

(Reporting by Joseph Sipalan; Writing by Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

Malaysia arrests North Korean man as row over Kim Jong Nam’s death escalates

police officer looks at hospital staff

By Emily Chow and Liz Lee

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysian police said on Saturday they had arrested a North Korean man in connection with the murder of the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as a diplomatic spat over his body escalated.

Kim Jong Nam died this week after being assaulted at Kuala Lumpur International Airport with what was thought to be a fast-acting poison. South Korean and U.S. officials have said he was assassinated by North Korean agents.

Malaysian police said the latest arrest connected with the murder was made on Friday night, and the suspect was identified as Ri Jong Chol, born on May 6, 1970. He was in possession of a Malaysian i-Kad, which is an identification card given to foreign workers, they added.

“He is suspected to be involved in the death of a North Korean male,” read a statement.

The police chief for Selangor state, Abdul Samah Mat, said the suspect had been remanded in police custody.

Two female suspects, one an Indonesian and the other carrying Vietnamese travel documents, have already been arrested, while a Malaysian man has been detained. At least three more suspects are at large, government sources have said.

Kim Jong Nam, the eldest son of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, had spoken out publicly against his family’s dynastic control of isolated, nuclear-armed North Korea.

South Korea’s intelligence agency told lawmakers in Seoul that Kim had been living with his second wife in the Chinese territory of Macau, under China’s protection.

He had been at the Kuala Lumpur airport to catch a flight to Macau when he was killed. An autopsy is being performed at a hospital in the capital city.

Selangor state police chief Abdul Samah told Reuters that the autopsy report was not complete yet. He dismissed media reports that a second autopsy would have to be conducted.

DIPLOMATIC ISOLATION

North Korea said in the early hours of Saturday that it would categorically reject Malaysia’s autopsy report on the death of Kim Jong Nam, and accused Malaysia of “colluding with outside forces”, in a veiled reference to rival nation South Korea.

Malaysia hit back by saying the country’s rules must be followed. The foreign ministry has yet to make any comment.

Health minister Dr S.Subramaniam told state news agency Bernama that Malaysia was waiting for the toxicology report to complete the autopsy.

He said the autopsy report would hopefully be released “within this week”.

The case threatens to weaken North Korea’s ties with Malaysia, one of the few countries that has maintained good diplomatic relations with Pyongyang.

North Korea’s nuclear arms and weapons programs have alarmed the West, most recently its test of a ballistic missile earlier this month in its first direct challenge to the international community since Donald Trump became U.S. president.

Pyongyang’s main ally and trading partner is China, which is irritated by its repeated aggressive actions but rejects suggestions from the United States and others that it could be doing more to rein in its neighbor.

On Saturday, China said it had further tightened trade restrictions with North Korea by suspending all imports of coal starting Feb. 19, although it did not say why. Coal exports to China are a vital source of revenues for Pyongyang.

ROW OVER AUTOPSY

Kim Jong Nam was assaulted at the low cost terminal of Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Monday with what is believed to be fast acting poison before he could board a flight to Macau. He sought help but died on the way to the hospital.

North Korea demanded on Friday night that Kim Jong Nam’s body be released immediately. It had earlier tried to persuade Malaysian authorities not to carry out an autopsy.

“The Malaysian side forced the post-mortem without our permission and witnessing,” the North Korean ambassador Kang Chol told reporters outside the hospital where the body of Kim Jong Nam is being kept.

“We will categorically reject the result of the post mortem … ”

He said Kim Jong Nam had a diplomatic passport and was under the consular protection of North Korea.

(Additional reporting by Meng Meng and David Stanway in Beijing; Writing by Praveen Menon and A. Ananthalakshmi; Editing by Michael Perry and Mike Collett-White)

Third suspect arrested in Malaysia over murder of North Korean

Police officers gather outside of Malaysia morgue

By Joseph Sipalan and Liz Lee

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysian police made a third arrest on Thursday in their hunt for the people involved in the murder of the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The third person, whose nationality was not disclosed, was the friend of an Indonesian woman who was detained earlier in the day in connection with the killing of Kim Jong Nam at the airport in the Malaysian capital on Monday, police said.

“He was detained to facilitate investigations as he is the boyfriend of the second suspect,” said Abu Samah Mat, the police chief in Selangor state, told Reuters. (For a graphic on North Korea’s Kim family tree click: http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/rngs/NORTHKOREA-MALAYSIA-KIM/010031W648V/NORTHKOREA-MALAYSIA-KIM-01.jpg)

The Indonesian woman was remanded in custody for seven days along with another woman, who held a Vietnamese travel document, who was caught trying to leave the country through the budget airline terminal of Kuala Lumpur airport on Wednesday, the Bernama state news agency reported.

Kim Jong Nam, 46, was assaulted at the same airport on Monday with what was believed to be a fast-acting poison as he was about to leave on a flight to Macau.

He sought help, collapsed and died on his way to hospital.

Lawmakers in South Korea earlier cited their spy agency as saying it suspected two female North Korean agents had murdered Kim. U.S. government sources also said they believed North Korean assassins were responsible.

Kim Jong Nam had spoken out publicly against his family’s dynastic control of the isolated, nuclear-armed state, and he had also expressed fears for this safety.

South Korea’s intelligence agency told lawmakers in Seoul that the young, unpredictable North Korean leader had issued a “standing order” for his elder half-brother’s assassination, and that there had been a failed attempt in 2012.

North Korean agents have killed rivals abroad before.

The Indonesian woman was alone when she was apprehended, police said. Her passport bore the name Siti Aishah, and gave her date of birth as Feb. 11, 1992, and place of birth as Serang, Indonesia. The Indonesian foreign ministry said it had requested consular access to the woman.

The first suspect detained had travel documents in the name of Doan Thi Huong, with a birth date of May 1988 and birthplace of Nam Dinh, Vietnam.

‘NO REASON TO KILL’

North Korea has made no public reference to Kim Jong Nam’s death, and calls to the embassy in Malaysia were unanswered.

But a source in Beijing with ties to both the North Korean and Chinese governments told Reuters that North Korea was not involved in his killing, and had no motive.

“Kim Jong Nam has nothing to do with (North) Korea,” the source said. “There is no reason for (North) Korea to kill him.”

“(North) Korea is investigating,” the source said when asked why there has been no publicly denied involvement, adding that North Korea wanted the body returned.

There was also no mention of Kim Jong Nam’s death in North Korean state media, as of early Thursday.

At midnight on Wednesday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun to mark the birthday of his father, the late leader Kim Jong Il, who died in 2011.

The late leader was also the father of Kim Jong Nam. The two had different mothers.

Malaysian police said Kim had been at the airport to catch a flight to Macau on Monday when someone grabbed or held his face from behind, after which he felt dizzy and sought help at an information desk.

“The cause of death is strongly suspected to be a poisoning attack,” said South Korean lawmaker Kim Byung-kee, who was briefed by his country’s spy agency.

Malaysian authorities rebuffed North Korean officials’ efforts to stop an autopsy being carried out on Kim, three Malaysian government sources familiar with the stand-off told Reuters.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, a Malaysian government leader said he believed the police had received a request from North Korean officials for the body, and it could be eventually released to the North Korean embassy.

“After all the police and medical procedures are completed, we may release the body to the next of kin through the embassy,” Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said.

According to South Korea’s spy agency, Kim had been living with his second wife, under Beijing’s protection, in the Chinese territory of Macau, South Korean lawmakers said.

One of them said Kim also had a wife and son in Beijing.

In Beijing, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Wednesday China was aware of reports of the murder and was closely following developments.

(Additional reporting by A.Ananthalakshmi in KUALA LUMPUR and Benjamin Lim in BEIJING; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore, Robert Birsel)

Malaysia detains woman, seeking others in connection with North Korean murder

Kim Jong Nam arriving at Beijing Airport

By Ju-min Park and A. Ananthalakshmi

SEOUL/KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysian police on Wednesday detained a woman holding Vietnam travel papers and are looking for a “few” other foreign suspects in connection with the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s estranged half-brother, police said.

Lawmakers in South Korea had earlier cited their spy agency as saying it suspected two female North Korean agents had murdered Kim Jong Nam, and U.S. government sources also told Reuters they believed North Korean assassins were responsible.

The portly and gregarious Kim Jong Nam, the eldest son of late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, was assaulted on Monday morning in the departure hall of Kuala Lumpur International Airport and died on the way to hospital, Malaysian police said.

The woman detained at Kuala Lumpur airport was identified from CCTV footage at the airport and was alone when she was apprehended, police said in a statement.Media had earlier published a grainy CCTV-captured image of a young woman wearing a white shirt with the letters “LOL” on the front.

Documents she carried were in the name of Doan Thi Huong, showed a birth date of May 1998 and birthplace of Nam Dinh, Vietnam, police said.

“Police are looking for a few others, all foreigners,” Deputy Inspector-General Noor Rashid Ibrahim told Reuters, declining to give their nationalities or gender.

South Korean intelligence believes Kim Jong Nam was poisoned, the lawmakers in South Korea’s capital, Seoul, said.

The spy agency told them that the young and unpredictable North Korean leader had issued a “standing order” for his half-brother’s assassination, and that there had been a failed attempt in 2012.

“The cause of death is strongly suspected to be a poisoning attack,” said South Korean lawmaker Kim Byung-kee, who was briefed by the spy agency.

Kim had been at the airport’s budget terminal to catch a flight to Macau on Monday when someone grabbed or held his face from behind, after which he felt dizzy and sought help at an information desk, Malaysian police official Fadzil Ahmat said.

According to South Korea’s spy agency, Kim Jong Nam had been living, under Beijing’s protection, with his second wife in the Chinese territory of Macau, the lawmakers said. One of them said Kim Jong Nam also had a wife and son in Beijing.

Kim had spoken out publicly against his family’s dynastic control of the isolated state.

“If the murder of Kim Jong Nam was confirmed to be committed by the North Korean regime, that would clearly depict the brutality and inhumanity of the Kim Jong Un regime,” South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, who is also acting president, told a security meeting.

The meeting was called in response to Kim Jong Nam’s death, news of which first emerged late on Tuesday.

‘SENSE OF DANGER’

South Korea is acutely sensitive to any sign of instability in isolated North Korea, and is still technically in a state of war with its impoverished and nuclear-armed neighbor, which carried out its latest ballistic missile test on Sunday.

Malaysian police said Kim held a passport under the name Kim Chol, with a birth date that made him 46.

Kim Jong Nam was known to spend a significant amount of time outside North Korea, traveling in Macau and Hong Kong as well as mainland China, and has been caught in the past using forged travel documents.

His body was taken on Wednesday to a second hospital, where an autopsy was being performed. North Korean embassy officials had arrived at the hospital and were coordinating with authorities, police sources said.

There was no mention of Kim Jong Nam’s death in North Korean media.

In Beijing, a foreign ministry spokesman said China was aware of the reports and closely following developments.

Yoji Gomi, a Japanese journalist who wrote a 2012 book on Kim Jong Nam, said Kim’s media appearances, which increased around the time South Korean intelligence said he was targeted for assassination, may have been an attempt to protect himself.

“I now have the impression that even he may have had a sense of danger, so he began exposing himself in the media and stating his opinions to protect himself and counter North Korea,” Gomi told a talk show on Japan’s NTV.

North Korean agents have killed rivals abroad before.

South Korea’s spy agency said Kim Jong Nam wrote a letter to Kim Jong Un in 2012 asking that the lives of him and his family be spared, one of the lawmakers said.

“Kim Jong Un may have been worried about more and more North Korean elites turning against him after Thae Yong Ho defected to the South,” said Koh Yu-hwan, an expert on the North Korean leadership at Dongguk University in Seoul, referring to last year’s defection by North Korea’s deputy ambassador in London.

Numerous North Korean officials have been purged or killed since Kim Jong Un took power following his father’s death in 2011. Those include his uncle Jang Song Thaek, who was considered the country’s second most-powerful person and was believed to have been close to Kim Jong Nam.

Jang was executed on Kim Jong Un’s orders in 2013.

(Reporting by Ju-min Park, Cynthia Kim, Hyunjoo Jin and Yun Hwan Chae in SEOUL, Joseph Sipalan, Praveen Menon and Emily Chow in KUALA LUMPUR, and Philip Wen in BEIJING; Writing by Tony Munroe and John Chalmers)

North Korean leader’s half brother killed in Malaysia: source

North Korean half brother to Kim Jong Un

By Ju-min Park and Joseph Sipalan

SEOUL/KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – The estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been killed in Malaysia, a South Korean government source told Reuters on Tuesday.

Kim Jong Nam, the older half brother of the North Korean leader, was known to spend a significant amount of his time outside the country and had spoken out publicly against his family’s dynastic control of the isolated state.

He was believed to be in his mid-40s.

Police in Malaysia told Reuters on Tuesday an unidentified North Korean man had died en route to hospital from Kuala Lumpur airport on Monday. Abdul Aziz Ali, police chief for the Sepang district, said the man’s identity had not been verified.

An employee in the emergency ward of Putrajaya hospital said a deceased Korean there was born in 1970 and surnamed Kim.

South Korea’s TV Chosun, a cable television network, said that Kim was poisoned at Kuala Lumpur airport by two women believed to be North Korean operatives, who were at large, citing multiple South Korean government sources.

The South Korean government source who spoke to Reuters did not immediately provide further details.

South Korea’s foreign ministry said it could not confirm the reports, and the country’s intelligence agency could not immediately be reached for comment.

Kim Jong Nam and Kim Jong Un are both sons of former leader Kim Jong Il, who died in late 2011, but they had different mothers.

Kim Jong Nam was believed to be close to his uncle, Jang Song Thaek, who was North Korea’s second most powerful man before being executed on Kim Jong Un’s orders in 2013.

In 2001, Kim Jong Nam was caught at an airport in Japan traveling on a fake passport, saying he had wanted to visit Tokyo Disneyland. He was known to travel to Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China.

He said several times over the years that he had no interest in leading his country.

“Personally I am against third-generation succession,” he told Japan’s Asahi TV in 2010, before his younger had succeeded their father.

“I hope my younger brother will do his best for the sake of North Koreans’ prosperous lives.”

(Reporting by Ju-min Park and Se Young Lee in SEOUL and Joseph Sipalan And Emily Chow in KUALA LUMPUR; Writing by Tony Munroe; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Turkish prosecutors probing why Russian envoy’s killer not taken alive: state media

Russian ambassador after assassination

By Ece Toksabay

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish prosecutors are investigating why the off-duty policeman who shot dead Russia’s ambassador to Turkey was not captured alive, state media said on Wednesday, as the number of people arrested over the killing rose to 11.

Ambassador Andrei Karlov was gunned down from behind while delivering a speech in an Ankara art gallery on Monday. His killer was identified by Turkish authorities as Mevlut Mert Altintas, 22, who shouted “Don’t forget Aleppo” and “Allahu Akbar” – Arabic for “God is greatest” – as he fired the shots.

Russian and Turkey both cast the attack as an attempt to ruin a recent thawing of relations chilled by the civil war in Syria, where they back opposing sides. The war reached a potential turning point last week when Russian-backed Syrian forces ended rebel resistance in the northern city of Aleppo.

The state-run Anadolu Agency said prosecutors were investigating why Turkish special forces, who stormed the gallery after the killing, did not take Altintas alive.

Initial findings suggest he continued to fire at police officers, shouting: “You cannot capture me alive!” Anadolu said. The officers shot Altintas in the legs, but he continued to return fire while crawling on the ground, it said.

President Tayyip Erdogan defended the police actions. “There is some speculation about why he wasn’t captured alive. Look what happened in Besiktas when they tried to capture an attacker alive,” Erdogan told reporters, referring to twin bombings this month outside the stadium of Istanbul’s Besiktas soccer team.

Forty-four people, mostly policemen, were killed and more than 150 wounded in the dual bombing, the second of which saw a suicide bomber detonating explosives while surrounded by police.

A Reuters cameraman at the scene of Monday’s killing of the Russian envoy said he heard shooting from inside the art gallery for some minutes after special forces stormed the building.

Anadolu also said the number of people detained in connection with the killing had risen to 11. Security sources told Reuters on Tuesday that six people – including Altintas’s mother, father, sister and flatmate – were in custody.

At Russian President Vladimir Putin’s request, a joint Russian-Turkish investigation team has been set up. The Russian contingent is made up of 18 officials, including a prosecutor and two defense attaches, Anadolu said.

More than 100 people from the Ankara police department, mostly from the anti-terrorism unit, are involved, it said.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday it was too early to say who stood behind the murder of its ambassador. It has also said the assassination was a blow to Turkey’s prestige, comments that are likely to unnerve Ankara.

(Additional reporting by Gulsen Solaker and Melih Aslan; editing by David Dolan and Mark Heinrich)

Russian ambassador shot dead in Ankara

Turkish police secure the area near an art gallery where the Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov was shot, in Ankara.

ANKARA (Reuters) – The Russian ambassador to Ankara was shot dead in an attack at an art gallery in the Turkish capital on Monday by a gunman shouting “Don’t forget Aleppo”.

A Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman confirmed the death of envoy Andrei Karlov, which marked one of the most serious spillovers of the Syria conflict into Turkey.

Andrei Gennadiyevich Karlov in a 2005 photo.

Andrei Gennadiyevich Karlov in a 2005 photo. REUTERS/Korea News Service

Russia is a close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and its air strikes were instrumental in helping Syrian forces end rebel resistance last week in the northern city of Aleppo.

The Anadolu news agency said the gunman had been “neutralized” soon after the attack, Relations between Moscow and Ankara have long been fraught over the conflict, with the two supporting opposing sides.

The attacker was smartly dressed in black suit and tie, and standing behind the ambassador as he made a speech at the art exhibition, a person at the scene told Reuters.

“He took out his gun and shot the ambassador from behind. We saw him lying on the floor and then we ran out,” said the witness, who asked not to be identified.

A Reuters cameraman at the scene said gunfire rang out for some time after the attack.

A video showed the attacker shouting: “Don’t forget Aleppo, don’t forget Syria!”

As screams rang out, the gunman could then be seen pacing about and shouting as he held the gun in one hand and waved the other in the air.

Another photograph showed four people including what appeared to be the ambassador lying on the floor.

Russia and Turkey have both been involved in the conflict in Syria, which borders Turkey. Turkey has been a staunch opponent of Assad, while Russia has deployed troops and its air force in support of the Syrian leader.

The U.S. State Department, involved in diplomatic contacts with Russia in an attempt to resolve a refugee crisis unfolding around the city of Aleppo, condemned the attack.

Tensions have escalated in recent weeks as Russian-backed Syrian forces have fought for control of the eastern part of the city of Aleppo, triggering a stream of refugees.

It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack. Islamic State militants have been active in Turkey and carried out several bomb attacks on Turkish targets over the last year.

(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Writing by Daren Butler; editing by Ralph Boulton and Mark Trevelyan)