SEOUL/KUALA LUMPUR, (Reuters) – Malaysian police yesterday detained a woman holding Vietnam travel papers and said they were looking for a “few” other foreign suspects in connection with the apparent assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s estranged half-brother.
Lawmakers in South Korea 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 said they believed North Korean assassins were responsible.
North Korean officials spent hours yesterday trying to talk Malaysia out of conducting an autopsy on Kim Jong Nam, three Malaysian government sources familiar with the stand-off told Reuters.
Malaysian authorities refused the request, the sources added, although no decision has been taken on whether the body will eventually be handed over to North Korea.
The portly and gregarious Kim Jong Nam, 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.
