Tag Archives: Malaysia

North Korean murder suspects go home with victim’s body as Malaysia forced to swap

Hyon Kwang Song (R), the second secretary at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, and Kim Uk Il, a North Korean state airline employee, arrive in Beijing intentional airport to board a flight returning to North Korea, in Beijing. Kyodo via REUTERS

By Rozanna Latiff and James Pearson

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Three North Koreans wanted for questioning over the murder of the estranged half-brother of their country’s leader returned home on Friday along with the body of victim Kim Jong Nam after Malaysia agreed a swap deal with the reclusive state.

Malaysian police investigating what U.S. and South Korean officials say was an assassination carried out by North Korean agents took statements from the three before they were allowed to leave the country.

“We have obtained whatever we want from them…They have assisted us and they have been allowed to leave,” police chief Khalid Abu Bakar told a news conference in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, saying there were no grounds to hold the men.

Kim Jong Nam, the elder half-brother of the North’s young, unpredictable leader Kim Jong Un, was killed at Kuala Lumpur’s airport on Feb. 13 in a bizarre assassination using VX nerve agent, a chemical so lethal the U.N. has listed it as a weapon of mass destruction.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the remains of a North Korean citizen killed in Malaysia were returned to the North via Beijing along with “relevant” North Korean citizens.

Malaysian authorities released Kim’s body on Thursday in a deal that secured the release of nine Malaysian citizens held in Pyongyang after a drawn out diplomatic spat.

Malaysian police had named eight North Koreans they wanted to question in the case, including the three given safe passage to leave.

Television footage obtained by Reuters from Japanese media showed Hyon Kwang Song, the second secretary at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, and Kim Uk Il, a North Korean state airline employee on the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

The police chief confirmed they were accompanied by compatriot Ri Ji U, also known as James, who had been hiding with them at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysian prosecutors have charged two women – an Indonesian and a Vietnamese – with killing Kim Jong Nam, but South Korean and U.S. officials had regarded them as pawns in an operation carried out by North Korean agents.

Kim Jong Nam, who had been living in exile in the Chinese territory of Macau for several years, survived an attempt on his life in 2012, according to South Korean lawmakers.

They say Kim Jong Un had issued a “standing order” for the assassination in order to consolidate his own power after the 2011 death of the father of both.

The other North Koreans named by Malaysian investigators are all back in North Korea.

Police believe four fled Malaysia on the same day as the murder and another was held for a week before being released due to insufficient evidence.

Angered by the probe, North Korea ordered a travel ban on Malaysians this month, trapping three diplomats and six family members – including four children – in Pyongyang.

Malaysia, which previously had friendly ties with the unpredictable nuclear-armed state, responded with a ban of its own, but was left with little option but to accede to the North’s demands for the return of the body and safe passage for the three nationals hiding in the embassy.

“CLEAR WINNER”

Malaysia will not snap diplomatic ties with North Korea following the row, Prime Minister Najib Razak said during an official visit to India, state news agency Bernama reported.

“We hope they don’t create a case like this again,” Najib told reporters in the southern city of Chennai. “It will harm the relationship between the two countries.”

On Thursday, Najib had announced the return of the body, but did not mention Kim by name.

“Following the completion of the autopsy on the deceased and receipt of a letter from his family requesting the remains be returned to North Korea, the coroner has approved the release of the body,” Najib said, adding that the murder investigation would continue but the travel ban on North Koreans was lifted.

North Korea has maintained that the dead man is not Kim Jong Nam, saying instead the body is that of Kim Chol, the name on the victim’s passport.

Malaysian police used a DNA sample to establish the victim was Kim Jong Nam. Police chief Khalid said the North Korean embassy had at first confirmed the identity, but changed its stance the next day.

The swap agreement brings to an end a diplomatic standoff that has lasted nearly seven weeks.

Both countries managed to “resolve issues arising from the death of a DPRK national,” a North Korean statement said on Thursday, referring to the country by the abbreviation of its official name.

“It is a win (for North Korea), clearly,” Andrei Lankov, North Korea expert at Seoul’s Kookmin University, said on the swap deal. “I presume the Malaysians decided not to get too involved in a remote country’s palace intrigues, and wanted their hostages back.”

SIMULTANEOUS TAKE-OFF

The nine Malaysians who had been trapped in Pyongyang arrived in Kuala Lumpur early on Friday on board a small Bombardier business jet operated by the Malaysian air force.

Pilot Hasrizan Kamis said the crew dressed in civilian clothes as a “precautionary step” for the mission.

The Plane Finder tracking website showed the Bombardier took off from Pyongyang at the same time the Malaysian Airlines flight MH360 left Kuala Lumpur for Beijing.

Mohd Nor Azrin Md Zain, one of the returning diplomats, said it had been an anxious period but they “were not particularly harassed” by the North Korean authorities.

The episode, however, is likely to have cost North Korea one of its few friends.

“I think this relationship is going to go into cold storage for a very long time,” said former Malaysian diplomat Dennis Ignatius.

(Additional reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi, Joseph Sipalan, Emily Chow and Praveen Menon in KUALA LUMPUR and Christian Shepherd in BEIJING; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

Exclusive: Malaysia inspects North Korean coal ship for possible U.N. sanctions breach

An Eikon ship-tracking screen shows the position of the North Korean ship Kum Ya off Penang March 29, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas White/Illustration

By James Pearson, Rozanna Latiff and Tom Allard

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia briefly prevented a North Korean ship carrying coal from entering its port in Penang because of a suspected breach of United Nations sanctions, a port worker and Malaysian maritime officials told Reuters on Wednesday

The KUM YA, was carrying 6,300 metric tonnes of anthracite coal, according to a worker at Penang Port who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity. It was later allowed to dock, where an inspection team accompanied by an armed escort boarded the ship.

A December 2016 U.N. Security Council resolution placed a cap on exports of North Korean coal, and urged member states to apply extra scrutiny on North Korean ships.

Production of coal in North Korea is state-controlled and its exports are a key source of hard currency for the isolated country’s banned nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Relations between North Korea and Malaysia, which have been friendly for decades, have soured following the February assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s half-brother at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

The North Korean ship had been initially prevented from entering Penang Port due to a possible breach of U.N. sanctions, MMEA deputy director-general of operations Zulkifli Abu Bakar, told Reuters without offering further details.

It was unclear what the inspectors were checking on.

The United Nations in its annual reports on how members have complied with sanctions have cited a number of instances over the past decade in which North Korean missile parts and coal connected to sanctioned entities were trans-shipped through Malaysia.

Malaysia is one of the few countries in the world which buys North Korean coal, with China by far the biggest importer.

LUCKY STAR

The KUM YA was recently re-flagged as a North Korean ship, changing its name from Lucky Star 7 in November last year, according to the Equasis shipping database.

It was registered on Feb. 13 to North Korean shipping company Sonchonggang Water Transport, according to copies of the ship’s registration documents, which were issued by North Korea’s Maritime Administration, and seen by Reuters.

The ship was carrying 20 crew members, and was scheduled to sail onto Singapore, the port worker said.

The ship listed its port of origin as Busan, South Korea. However, shipping data in Thomson Reuters Eikon shows the cargo was loaded at the Huaneng Shandong Power Station Weihai, a coal-fired power plant. It then sailed to Penang through the South China Sea and the Malacca Strait, the data shows. (http://tmsnrt.rs/2ofxNXe)

China halted all coal imports from North Korea starting on Feb. 26, amid growing tensions on the Korean Peninsula following one of a series of Pyongyang’s missile tests.

Malaysia’s foreign ministry told officials at Penang Port not to let the ship dock before an inspection team had it “declared safe,” the port worker said.

The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) confirmed the ship had been stopped following instructions from Malaysia’s foreign ministry, which did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“Many North Korean ships call on our ports and we never had problems. Just over the recent months, there have been problems,” the port worker told Reuters. “We have never received directives to stop North Korean ships before.”

NOT CONFISCATED

The KUM YA was first stopped at sea before being allowed to dock in port where it was immediately cordoned off, the port worker said.

“Minerals and Geoscience Department officials were then called to inspect the cargo on board. The department officers were told to confirm it was indeed coal on board,” the port worker said.

The coal was being unloaded on Wednesday afternoon and has not been confiscated, the port worker said.

Since 2011, Malaysia has imported over 2 million metric tonnes of coal a year, according to government statistics, which are not broken down by country of origin.

The KUM YA shipment was handled by Malaysian freight forwarding company Alim Maritime Sdn Bhd, the port worker said. An Alim Maritime official reached by telephone declined to comment.

The KUM YA can hold up to 6,843 metric tonnes of cargo, according to Equasis, meaning it was 92 percent full when it arrived in Penang.

(Additional reporting by Emily Chow in KUALA LUMPUR and Henning Gloystein in SINGAPORE; Editing by Bill Tarrant)

Vietnam seeks South Korean support in South China Sea

South Korea's Foreign Minister Yun Byung-Se (L) is greeted by Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in Hanoi, Vietnam March 20, 2017.

HANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam’s Prime Minister sought support for the nation’s stance in the South China Sea when he met South Korea’s foreign minister in Hanoi on Monday.

Vietnam is the country most openly at odds with China over the waterway since the Philippines pulled back from confrontation under President Rodrigo Duterte.

“The Prime Minister proposed that South Korea continue its support over the position of Vietnam and Southeast Asia on the South China Sea issue and to help the country improve its law enforcement at the sea”, the government said in a statement on its website after the meeting between Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and South Korea’s Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se.

The statement did not say whether South Korea backed Vietnam’s position on the South China Sea.

Yun did affirm his country’s willingness to promote ties despite instability in South Korea after the ousting of President Park Geun-hye over a graft scandal.

South Korea is Vietnam’s biggest foreign investor thanks to companies like Samsung.

South Korea and China are currently in dispute over deployment of the U.S. anti-missile defense system. South Korea on Monday has complained to the World Trade Organization about Chinese retaliation against its companies over the deployment.

Last week, Vietnam demanded China stop sending cruise ships to the area in response to one of Beijing’s latest moves to bolster its claims to the strategic waterway.

China claims 90 percent of the potentially energy-rich South China Sea. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan lay claim to parts of the route, through which about $5 trillion of trade passes each year.

(Reporting by My Pham; Editing by Julia Glover)

Interpol ‘issues red notice’ for North Koreans in murder mystery

The cover of a Chinese magazine features a portrait of Kim Jong Nam, the late half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, at a news agent in Beijing, China February 27, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Interpol has issued a red notice, the closest to an international arrest warrant, for four North Koreans wanted in connection with the murder of Kim Jong Nam, Malaysia’s police chief said on Thursday.

The estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was murdered on Feb. 13, when Malaysian police say two women – an Indonesian and a Vietnamese – smeared super toxic VX nerve agent on his face at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

The two women were charged with murder earlier this month, but police are looking for seven North Korean suspects in connection with the killing, including four who are believed to have made their way back to Pyongyang.

Police requested Interpol’s help to apprehend the suspects last month.

“We have obtained a red notice for the four North Korean nationals who were at the airport on the day of the incident and who have since left… we are hoping to get them through Interpol,” police chief Khalid Abu Bakar told reporters.

An Interpol red notice is a request to find and provisionally arrest someone pending extradition.

The murder has resulted in a diplomatic meltdown between two countries with once strong ties.

North Korea has questioned the Malaysian investigation into the murder and refused to acknowledge that the man murdered is Kim Jong Nam.

Speaking at the North Korean embassy in Beijing at an unusual and hastily arranged news conference, diplomat Pak Myong Ho blamed the United States and South Korea.

“The recent incident that occurred in Malaysia was clearly a political scheme by the U.S. and South Korea aimed at hurting the DPRK’s reputation and overthrowing the DPRK regime,” Pak said, using the North’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“The only parties that will benefit from this incident are the enemy countries,” Pak told a hand-picked audience of reporters in a small, sparsely decorated room inside the embassy.

At the time of the killing, Kim was carrying a diplomatic passport bearing another name, but Malaysian authorities said on Wednesday Kim Jong Nam’s identity had been confirmed using DNA samples taken from one of his children.

Malaysia has also refused demands by the North Korean government for Kim Jong Nam’s body to be released, saying that the remains can only be handed over to the next-of-kin under local laws. No family member has come forward to claim the body.

State news agency Bernama, quoting Malaysian deputy police chief Noor Rashid Ibrahim, said on Thursday that the family had given consent for Malaysia to manage Kim Jong Nam’s remains. Noor Rashid did not say when or where the consent was given.

Kim Jong Nam had been living in the Chinese territory of Macau under Beijing’s protection after the family went into exile several years ago. He had been known to speak out publicly against his family’s dynastic control of North Korea.

A man claiming to be the son of Kim Jong Nam appeared in video footage last week, saying he was lying low with his mother and sister.

An official at South Korea’s National Intelligence Service confirmed the man in the video was Kim Han Sol, the 21-year-old son of Kim Jong Nam.

Malaysia is one of the few countries outside China that has for decades maintained ties with North Korea.

But as relations soured, Malaysia recalled its envoy from Pyongyang and expelled the North Korean ambassador.

North Korea then barred nine Malaysians – three diplomats and their six family members – from leaving the country, prompting Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to describe the action as “hostage” taking. The Southeast Asian country followed with a tit-for-tat action stopping North Koreans from leaving.

Najib told reporters Malaysia will begin formal negotiations with North Korea “when the time is right”, clarifying previous reports saying that talks between the two countries had begun on Monday.

(Reporting by Nguyen Ha Minh and Joseph Sipalan; Additional reporting by Christian Shepherd in Beijing, and Christine Kim in Seoul; Writing by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Japan plans to send largest warship to South China Sea

FILE PHOTO: A helicopter lands on the Izumo, Japan Maritime Self Defense Force's (JMSDF) helicopter carrier, at JMSDF Yokosuka base in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, Japan,

By Tim Kelly and Nobuhiro Kubo

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan plans to dispatch its largest warship on a three-month tour through the South China Sea beginning in May, three sources said, in its biggest show of naval force in the region since World War Two.

China claims almost all the disputed waters and its growing military presence has fueled concern in Japan and the West, with the United States holding regular air and naval patrols to ensure freedom of navigation.

The Izumo helicopter carrier, commissioned only two years ago, will make stops in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka before joining the Malabar joint naval exercise with Indian and U.S. naval vessels in the Indian Ocean in July.

It will return to Japan in August, the sources said.

“The aim is to test the capability of the Izumo by sending it out on an extended mission,” said one of the sources who have knowledge of the plan. “It will train with the U.S. Navy in the South China Sea,” he added, asking not to be identified because he is not authorized to talk to the media.

A spokesman for Japan’s Maritime Self Defense Force declined to comment.

Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Brunei also claim parts of the sea which has rich fishing grounds, oil and gas deposits and through which around $5 trillion of global sea-borne trade passes each year.

Japan does not have any claim to the waters, but has a separate maritime dispute with China in the East China Sea.

Japan wants to invite Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who has pushed ties with China in recent months as he has criticized the old alliance with the United States, to visit the Izumo when it visits Subic Bay, about 100 km (62 miles) west of Manila, another of the sources said.

Asked during a news conference about his view on the warship visit, Duterte said, without elaborating, “I have invited all of them.”

He added: “It is international passage, the South China Sea is not our territory, but it is part of our entitlement.”

On whether he would visit the warship at Subic Bay, Duterte said: “If I have time.”

Japan’s flag-flying operation comes as the United States under President Donald Trump appears to be taking a tougher line with China. Washington has criticized China’s construction of man-made islands and a build-up of military facilities that it worries could be used to restrict free movement.

Beijing in January said it had “irrefutable” sovereignty over the disputed islands after the White House vowed to defend “international territories”.

The 249 meter-long (816.93 ft) Izumo is as large as Japan’s World War Two-era carriers and can operate up to nine helicopters. It resembles the amphibious assault carriers used by U.S. Marines, but lacks their well deck for launching landing craft and other vessels.

Japan in recent years, particularly under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, has been stretching the limits of its post-war, pacifist constitution. It has designated the Izumo as a destroyer because the constitution forbids the acquisition of offensive weapons. The vessel, nonetheless, allows Japan to project military power well beyond its territory.

Based in Yokosuka, near to Tokyo, which is also home to the U.S. Seventh Fleet’s carrier, the Ronald Reagan, the Izumo’s primary mission is anti-submarine warfare.

(Additional reporting by Martin Petty in Manila; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Malaysia expels North Korean ambassador after Kim Jong Nam murder

North Korean Ambassador to Malaysia Kang Chol speaks during a news conference at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, February 20, 2017. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia on Saturday expelled the North Korean ambassador to the country, declaring him “persona non grata” and asking the envoy to leave Malaysia within 48 hours.

The move comes nearly three weeks after Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, was murdered at Kuala Lumpur’s airport with a toxic nerve agent.

U.S. and South Korean officials have said he was killed by agents of the North Korean regime.

Kang Chol, North Korea’s ambassador to Malaysia, said last month his country “cannot trust” Malaysia’s handling of the probe, and also accused the country of “colluding with outside forces” in a veiled reference to bitter rival South Korea.

Malaysian foreign minister Anifah Haji Aman said in a statement on Saturday that Malaysia had demanded an apology from the ambassador for his comments, but none was forthcoming.

“Malaysia will react strongly against any insults made against it or any attempt to tarnish its reputation,” Anifah said.

(Reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi and Angie Teo; Editing by Alexander Smith)

MH370 families launch campaign to fund search for the missing jet

A family member of a passenger aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 which went missing in 2014 reacts during a protest outside the Chinese foreign ministry in Beijing, July 29, 2016. The hat reads "Pray for MH370" REUTERS/Thomas Peter

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Families of passengers on board missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 on Saturday launched a campaign to privately fund a search for the aircraft.

Flight MH370, carrying 239 people, went missing on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, nearly three years ago, on March 8, 2014.

Australia, Malaysia, and China jointly called off a two-year underwater search for the aircraft in January.

Grace Nathan, a Malaysian lawyer whose mother, Anne Daisy, was on the plane, said the families hope to raise $15 million to fund an initial search north of the previous search area.

“We won’t start fundraising until we’re sure that the governments are not going to resume the search and until the current data has been fully reviewed and analyzed,” she said at the campaign launch and MH370 memorial event held at a mall in Kuala Lumpur.

The three governments have said they will resume the search if any credible evidence on the whereabouts of the plane emerges.

International experts last year assisted Voice 370, a support group for MH370 next-of-kin, in mounting their own search along the East African coast where debris had been discovered.

“They pinpointed to us accurately where the debris would have made landfall. They’ve been very helpful both on a personal level and to the investigation,” Grace said.

The memorial event, the first held since the search was suspended, featured musical and dance performances, while family members and friends of those aboard made impassioned pleas for the search to continue.

Jiang Hui, whose mother was on the plane, recounted his experience discovering a piece of potential MH370 debris in Madagascar last year.

“I thought it was very miraculous and fortunate when I found the piece of debris that day, but I thought it was useless because this sort of searching activity should have been done by the government,” said Jiang, who traveled from China to attend the memorial.

“It should not be us, the family members, who should have been subjected to this pain, to go and face this cruel reality.”

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai, who attended the event, said authorities had analyzed 27 pieces of potential MH370 debris along the East African coastline, including two new pieces found in South Africa two weeks ago.

The government has also signed several agreements with countries along the East African coastline to coordinate searches for debris, Liow said.

(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Richard Pullin)

North Korean murder suspect says Malaysia in conspiracy to damage Pyongyang’s honor

North Korean national Ri Jong Chol stands behind the fence of the North Korean embassy compound in Beijing, China, March 4, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) – Ri Jong Chol, a suspect in the murder of the estranged half-brother of North Korea’s leader, said in Beijing that he was a victim of a conspiracy by Malaysian authorities attempting to damage the honor of North Korea.

Ri, a North Korean, accused Malaysia of using coercion to try to extract a confession from him, in comments to reporters outside the North Korean embassy in Beijing early on Saturday.

Kim Jong Nam was murdered on Feb. 13 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, after being assaulted by two women who Malaysian police believe smeared his face with VX, a chemical classified by the United Nations as a weapon of mass destruction.

The murder of Kim Jong Nam has soured relations between Malaysia and North Korea, which had maintained friendly ties for decades.

Ri said he was not at the airport on the day of the killing, and knew nothing about the accusation that his car was used in the case.

“I didn’t go (to the airport), and I had no reason to go. I was just doing my work,” he said.

Ri said he had worked in Malaysia trading ingredients needed for soap.

Ri was in Beijing on his way back to North Korea after Malaysia deported him on Friday.

He was met at Beijing’s international airport early on Saturday by a swarm of South Korean and Japanese reporters, but he was whisked away from the chaotic scene by Chinese police before he was able to make any statement.

Outside the North Korean embassy, Ri told reporters that he was presented with false evidence in Malaysia, and police showed him pictures of his family in detention.

“I realized that this is a conspiracy, plot, to try to damage the status and honor of the republic,” Ri said.

South Korean intelligence and U.S. officials say the murder was an assassination organized by North Korean agents.

Kim, 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.

(Additional reporting by Joseph Campbell, and Jack Kim in SEOUL; Writing by Ryan Woo; Editing by Alison Williams and Richard Pullin)

Malaysia to deport North Korean detained in airport murder probe

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi of Malaysia speaks during a high-level meeting on addressing large movements of refugees and migrants at the United Nations General Assembly in Manhattan, New York, U.S. September 19, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

By A. Ananthalakshmi and Rozanna Latiff

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia will deport a North Korean held in connection with the death of Kim Jong Nam, and cancel visa-free entry for all North Koreans, as diplomatic ties between the two countries frayed further following the murder at Kuala Lumpur’s airport.

The relationship between Malaysia and North Korea has soured since the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jung Un was murdered two weeks ago at Kuala Lumpur International Airport with a super toxic nerve agent VX.

South Korean intelligence and U.S. officials say the murder was an assassination organized by North Korean agents, though the only suspects charged in the case so far are an Indonesian woman and a Vietnamese woman.

Police are also holding one North Korean man and want to question seven others, including a senior official in the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

But, the detained North Korean, Ri Jong Chol, will be deported on Friday as there is insufficient evidence to charge him, Malaysian Attorney General Mohamed Apandi Ali told Reuters in a text message on Thursday.

Ri was arrested in Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 17 with a work permit that had been valid till Feb. 6, 2017.

It is unclear what Ri’s suspected role was in the murder.

Security camera footage showed two women assaulting Kim Jong Nam at the airport as he was waiting to board a flight to Macau, where he had been living with his family under Chinese protection.

Malaysian police say they smeared his face with VX nerve agent, a chemical classified by the United Nations as a weapon of mass destruction, and that Kim died within 20 minutes of being attacked.

North Korea, which has not accepted that the dead man is Kim Jong Nam, said on Thursday that there were strong indications a heart attack killed the North Korean national.

Speaking to reporters outside the embassy in Kuala Lumpur, former North Korean deputy ambassador to the United Nations Ri Tong Il questioned the alleged use of VX, saying samples should be sent to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

“If it is true that it was used, then the samples should be sent to the office of OPCW,” Ri said.

“In case it is proved by the two separate international laboratories, with the same conclusion, then they should come to identify who is the one that made it. Who is the one that brought it into Malaysia,” he added.

Ri is heading a high level diplomatic delegation that met with Malaysian cabinet ministers after arriving in Kuala Lumpur earlier this week.

North Korea had earlier tried to convince Malaysia not to perform an autopsy on Kim Jong Nam’s body, and to release three suspects detained in connection with the killing.

The women, who could face the death penalty, have told diplomats from their countries that they had believed they were carrying out a prank for a reality television show.

Police say four of the other North Korean suspects have fled Malaysia. Three other suspects – a diplomat, an Air Koryo official and another North Korean – are yet to come forward.

NEAR BREAKING POINT

The two countries have maintained friendly ties for decades, but the relationship has come close to breaking point.

Malaysia has insisted that laws of the country will be followed and has refused to release the body to the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, while waiting for next of kin to come forward.

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Malaysia will cancel visa-free entry for North Koreans from March 6, in a decision taken for national security reasons.

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.

Following a Reuters report this week that the North Korean intelligence agency has been running an arms operations from Kuala Lumpur for years, Malaysian authorities have said two North Korea-linked companies are in the process of being struck off the company registry.

North Korea and Malaysia have maintained cosy ties since the 1970s when former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad embraced the isolated state, in part to rebuff the United States.

Malaysian palm oil and rubber is exported to the communist state. Cars made by Malaysian national carmaker Proton have been sold to North Korea and used as taxis.

(Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

South Korea suggests North’s suspension from U.N. over airport killing

Yun Byung-se, Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Korea, addresses the Conference on Disarmament at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland February 28, 2017. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

By Stephanie Nebehay and Joseph Sipalan

GENEVA/KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – South Korea called for “collective measures” to punish North Korea for using chemical weapons to kill the estranged half-brother of its leader Kim Jong Un, as Malaysia said on Tuesday it would charge two women with murder over the airport attack.

Police have said the women smeared VX nerve agent, a chemical on a United Nations list of banned weapons of mass destruction, on Kim Jong Nam’s face in an assault captured on security cameras in the Malaysian capital’s airport on Feb. 13.

Speaking at the U.N.-backed Conference on Disarmament (CD) in Geneva on Tuesday, South Korea’s Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said the use of chemical weapons was a “wake-up call” and the international community should act – including possibly suspending the isolated North’s seat at the United Nations.

North Korea has rejected allegations of its involvement in the killing of Kim Jong Nam, but U.S. and South Korean officials believe he was the victim of an assassination orchestrated by Pyongyang.

“Many international media pointed out that North Korea’s use of chemical weapons for the targeted killing in a third country sent a very clear message to the world,” South Korea’s Yun told the Geneva forum.

“Namely this impulsive, unpredictable, trigger-happy and brutal regime is ready and willing to strike anyone, anytime, anywhere.”

North Korea’s delegation at the conference told Reuters it would respond to Yun’s speech later on Tuesday.

Malaysian police arrested a Vietnamese woman, Doan Thi Huong, and an Indonesian, Siti Aishah, in the days after the attack.

Police are also holding one North Korean man and have identified seven other North Koreans wanted in connection with a case that reads like the plot to a spy movie.

Both women will be formally charged on Wednesday under section 302 of the penal code, which carries the death penalty, Malaysia’s attorney general, Mohamed Apandi Ali, confirmed to Reuters in a text message.

DEADLY NERVE AGENT

VX is one of the deadliest chemical weapons ever created, far more potent than Sarin, the gas used in deadly chemical attacks in Syria in 2013 and in an attack on the Tokyo subway by a Japanese doomsday cult in 1995.

“Just a few grams of VX is sufficient for mass killing,” Yun said.

“North Korea is reported to have not just grams but thousands of tonnes of chemical weapons, including VX, all over the country … The recent assassination is a wake-up call to all of us to North Korea’s chemical weapons capability and its intent to actually use them.”

North Korea has previously denied possessing chemical weapons.

States could invoke the Chemical Weapons Convention as the use of such agents was in “flagrant violation of international law”, Yun said. Malaysia is part of the 1993 pact prohibiting their production, transfer and use, but North Korea is not.

Once the Malaysian government releases the results of its investigation, the U.N. Security Council and state parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention should take up the case as a “high priority agenda”, Yun said.

States that have ratified the chemical weapons ban could invoke the treaty and “take collective measures”, he added.

“It could take the form of suspension of North Korea’s rights and privileges as a U.N. member,” he said.

‘REALITY TV PRANK’

Malaysia’s investigation into the killing has sparked diplomatic tension with North Korea, and on Tuesday a high- ranking delegation arrived in Kuala Lumpur from Pyongyang in a bid to smooth ties.

North Korea’s official media has made no mention of Kim Jong Nam, who had been living in exile, under Beijing’s protection, in the Chinese territory of Macau, and had criticised the regime of his family and his half-brother, Kim Jong Un.

But a report last week from the North’s KCNA state news agency blamed Malaysia for the death of one of its citizens there.

Security camera footage, which has been broadcast in the media, showed two women assaulting Kim Jong Nam in the departure hall of Kuala Lumpur International Airport. He died within 20 minutes.

Both of the women arrested have told diplomats from their countries that they had been paid to take part in what they believed was a prank for a reality television show.

Huong, the Vietnamese woman, was detained 48 hours after the murder in the same airport terminal where Kim Jong Nam was killed.

She is believed to be the woman wearing a white shirt emblazoned with the acronym “LOL”, whose image was caught on security cameras while waiting for a taxi after the attack.

The Indonesian woman, Siti Aishah, was detained a day later.

Police have said the women knew what they were doing when they attacked Kim Jong Nam and were instructed to wash their hands afterwards.

Police said Aishah fell sick, vomiting repeatedly while in custody possibly as a side-effect of VX, though Indonesian embassy officials have subsequently said she was in good health.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in GENEVA, Joseph Sipalan and Angie Teo in KUALA LUMPUR and Zahra Matarani in JAKARTA; Writing by Alex Richardson; Editing by Robert Birsel)