The diplomatic row between Malaysia and North Korea has escalated, as the investigation into the killing of Kim Jong-un’s half brother continues.
Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, died following a seizure last Monday after being attacked at Kuala Lumpur airport. Malaysian police believe he was poisoned, after a video emerged of a woman spraying a substance into the face of Kim Jong-nam.
North Korea’s ambassador to Kuala Lumpur, Kang Chol, recently told reporters that he did not trust the Malaysian inquiry, saying:
“It has been seven days since the incident but there is no clear evidence on the cause of the death and at the moment we cannot trust the investigation by the Malaysian police even though its results [have yet to be] obtained.
“It only increases the doubt that there is someone else’s hand behind the investigation.”
Kang Chol added that the investigation had been politicised, saying that “the investigation by the Malaysian police is not for the clarification of the cause of the death and search of the suspect, but it is out of the political aim.”
He referred to 45-year old Kim Jong-nam as Kim Chol, the name on the passport Jong-nam was using at the time. He held several passports and spent most of his life outside his home country.
Malaysia has since recalled its ambassador from the North Korean capital Pyongyang, after the Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak defended the country’s police and said he expected North Korea “to understand that we apply the rule of law in Malaysia”.
Razak added that he had “absolute confidence” that police and doctors have been “very objective” in their work. Four people have been arrested so far, including a Vietnamese woman, an Indonesian woman, a Malaysian man and a North Korean man, with police continuing to seek a further four North Koreans.