Malaysia police confirm man killed at airport was Kim Jong Nam

The police say the victim's body will be handed over to the Malaysian Health Ministry since no one has claimed it.

North Korean agents kill Kim Jong-un's half-brother Kim Jong Nam in Malaysia
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

Malaysian police confirmed on Friday that the man, who killed last month at Kuala Lumpur airport was indeed Kim Jong Nam, the exiled half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

"We have fulfilled the requirement of the laws on his identification," Khalid Abu Bakar, inspector general of the Royal Malaysia Police told CNN. But, he declined to reveal the process of confirming the man's identity, citing the security and safety of witnesses. This was the first time, when the police officially confirmed the victim's identity.

When asked if Kim's relatives had been notified about the positive identification, the police chief replied: "Yes, we have already informed the relatives, so it seems no one is taking (the body)."

The authority said the victim's body will be handed over to the Malaysian Health Ministry since no one has claimed it.

Jong-nam was assassinated by two foreign women who smeared VX nerve agent, a chemical listed by the United Nations as a weapon of mass destruction, on his face at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport departure hall before his flight to Macau.

Malaysian police arrested both the women in the days after the attack. Huong, the Vietnamese woman, was detained 48 hours in the same airport. However, Indonesian woman, Aishah, was detained a day later.

This article was first published on March 11, 2017
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