Further arrests after death of N. Korean leader's brother
February 16, 2017
A second woman and one man have been arrested in connection with the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's half-brother. Kim Jong-nam died on Monday after suddenly falling ill at a Malaysian airport.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/S. Kambayashi
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Second woman arrested over Kim Jong Nam killing
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Malaysian investigators said on Thursday that a second female suspect and one man had been detained over the apparent killing of Kim Jong-nam, who was passed over for leadership of North Korea for his younger brother, Kim Jong-un. Police said that the second woman was an Indonesian national, something Jakarta later confirmed while asking to be granted access to the suspect.
"Following that verification, the embassy has requested consular access to the Government of Malaysia to provide assistance in order to ensure her legal rights," the Indonesian foreign ministry said. The woman has been identified as Siti Aishah, 25, from the city of Serang.
She was reportedly picked up at the budget terminal of the airport, where Kim Jong-nam had fallen ill on Monday morning.
Still photos of a video in which the woman is seen have been confirmed as authentic by police. They show a woman in a skirt and long-sleeved white T-shirt with 'LOL' on the front.
North Korea's long killing streak
A South Korean media report has claimed a top Pyongyang nuclear envoy was killed — but he turned up on TV days later. It would not have been the first killing from the top, but it turned out to be another false report.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Living in the crosshairs
High-profile defector Hwang Jang Yop survived numerous assassination attempts before dying of natural causes at the age of 87. Hwang, who had been one of the leading ideologues of the North's isolationist regime, escaped to South Korea in 1997. Just months before his death in 2010, Seoul authorities arrested two North Korean military officers over one of many plots to kill him.
Image: AP
Uncle not 'fed to the dogs'
The execution of Kim Jong Un's uncle Jang Song Thaek, once the second most powerful man in the isolated country, sent shock waves beyond North Korea's borders. Many media outlets wrongly reported that he was fed to hungry dogs, as punishment for his "betrayal" of the ruling family. In reality, he was shot, according to Pyongyang officials and South Korean intelligence.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Rumors of brutality
In 2015, Seoul's security services reported that North Korean Defense Minister Hyon Yong Chol was executed by an anti-aircraft gun. However, National Intelligence Service (NIS) soon appeared to backtrack from the report, saying that Hyon might still be alive. Reports of other brutal executions, involving artillery shells and flamethrowers, have also been difficult to confirm.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Poisoned needle
North Korean defector and well-known dissident Park Sang Hak was also targeted by a Pyongyang-linked hitman. In 2011, South Korean authorities arrested a former North Korean commando over the plot to assassinate Park with a poison-tipped needle.
Image: AFP/Getty Images
Removing a rival?
The estranged half-brother of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un was reportedly poisoned by two women at a Kuala Lumpur airport. While details remained sketchy, it was widely believed the killers were sent by the North Korean regime. The 46-year-old Kim Jong Nam had been living abroad after falling from grace in 2001 for visiting Disneyland in Tokyo.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
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Seoul: Pyongyang ordered the hit
According to a Malaysian government official, Kim told medical workers before he died that he had been attacked with a chemical spray.
Medical workers have completed an autopsy on Kim Jong-nam.
North Korea had objected to the autopsy and asked for Kim Jong-nam's body to be returned, but Malaysia went ahead with the procedure anyway as the North did not submit a formal protest, said Abdul Samah Mat, a senior Malaysian police official.
It was not immediately clear if or when Malaysia would release the findings publicly.
