Kuala Lumpur and Pyongyang struck deal, swapping body and suspects for nine Malaysians held hostage in North Korea.
Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The body of Kim Jong-nam, who was killed at Kuala Lumpur airport, was returned to his “family”, probably his half-brother Kim Jong-un, who is suspected of having instigated his assassination.
After a stop in Beijing, the plane from Malaysia landed in Pyongyang today. The two North Koreans suspected of the killing were on board.
The two women, one from Indonesia and the other from Vietnam, who daubed Kim Jong-nam’s face with a powerful nerve agent, are in jail on murder charges.
The two North Koreans who returned to Pyongyang are Hyon Kwang-song (pictured left), the second secretary of the North Korean Embassy in Malaysia, and Kim Uk-il (pictured right), an employee at Air Koryo, the country's flag carrier.
According to Malaysian police the two – who had taken refuge in their embassy – were involved in planning the assassination.
Yesterday Malaysia and North Korea reached a deal: Kim's body and the two suspects for nine Malaysians held hostage in Pyongyang.
“[F]ollowing 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,” Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said yesterday.
For Malaysia, at least eight North Koreans were involved in the killing. North Korea reacted to the allegations by accusing Malaysian police of tampering with the evidence – claiming that the dead man is not Kim Jong-nam, but a North Korean named Kim Chol (the name on his passport) – and by detaining nine Malaysians working in North Korea.
Malaysia responded by cancelling its visa-waiver programme with North Korea and kicking out North Korea's top envoy to Malaysia.
With the arrival of the nine Malaysian hostages in Kuala Lumpur this morning, the diplomatic spat between the two countries ended.
However, it is not clear whether Kim Jong-nam’s wife and family, who live in Macau, agreed to his remains being moved to Pyongyang.