Kim Jong-nam's family rescued to safety

Palinurus

The Living Force
Source: http://nltimes.nl/2017/03/08/dutch-ambassador-helped-bring-kim-jong-nams-family-safety-assassination-report

Dutch ambassador helped bring Kim Jong-nam's family to safety after assassination: report

By Janene Pieters on March 8, 2017 - 08:36

The Dutch embassy in Seoul may have been involved in helping bring the family of Kim Jong-nam to safety after he was assassinated, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap. Kim Jong-nam was the half brother of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un.

Cheolima Civil Defense, an organization that helps North Koreans flee when they need to, also thanked Dutch Ambassador Lody Embrechts for his "resolute and strong action" on their website, according to newspaper AD (in Dutch).

The organization claims that Kim Jong-nam's family called them for help this past month. Cheolima also posted a 40 second video starring a young man believed to be Kim Jong-nam's son Kim Han-sol. In the video he introduces himself and says that he is with his mother and sister. He also states that the video was made a few days after his father's murder. The video was posted online on Tuesday.

 
Palinurus said:
Source: http://nltimes.nl/2017/03/08/dutch-ambassador-helped-bring-kim-jong-nams-family-safety-assassination-report

Dutch ambassador helped bring Kim Jong-nam's family to safety after assassination: report

Thanks for Posting the article and video, Palinurus. Very sad and senseless to what happened to Kim Jong-nam. I really know nothing about the deceased or his family but the Son in the video seems to be well educated and speaks excellent English. I do think, it was a wise decision to ask for help and safety, after what happened and that the Dutch were kind enough to offer the family a safe haven.

The alleged son of Kim Jong-nam, the murdered half-brother of the North Korean leader, has posted a video address online.
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201703081051363551-kim-jong-nam-son-video/

A video of an individual claiming to be the son of Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, has been posted on social media.

"My name is Kim Han-sol from North Korea, part of the Kim family … My father has been killed a few days ago. I'm currently with my mother and my sister … We hope this gets better soon," the man said in a video issued by the Cheollima Civil Defense group of North Korean defectors on Tuesday.

There is no information on when and where the video was made.

The Cheollima Civil Defense said that three members of Kim Jong-nam’s family have sought refuge and were moved to a safe place.

According to the group, four countries provided support for Kim Han-sol, including the Netherlands, the United States and China.

The video’s authenticity needs to be confirmed but South Korean intelligence officials told the broadcaster NHK that the man on the video was likely to be Kim Han-sol.

A man believed to be Kim Jong-nam was killed on February 13 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Highly toxic gas was smeared on his face as he was about to board a flight to Macau. Kim is believed to have been killed by a VX nerve agent classified by the United Nations as a weapon of mass destruction.
 
I wonder, if Kim Jong-nam's death might have a Political motive behind it? Malaysia seems to have "more than it's share" of problems? Along with Kim Jong-nam's death, "a suppose assassination attempt" (8 days later) was recently foiled against Saudi King Salman visiting Kuala Lumpur?

Malaysia's Prime Minister said Kuala Lumpur will keep a communication channel with Pyongyang open amid the investigation into the murder of Kim Jong-un's half-brother.

Malaysia to Keep Communication Channel With N Korea Open Amid Diplomatic Fracas
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201703081051362821-malaysia-north-korea/

08.03.2017 - Malaysia will keep a communication channel with North Korea open in order to have a chance to solve the current diplomatic crisis provoked by the alleged murder of the North Korean leader’s half-brother Kim Jong-nam, Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said Wednesday.

At the moment [bilateral ties between the countries are] still on because it provides us with a channel. Because you need to have a channel to talk to them, to negotiate with them. In the meantime, we need to examine what is the need of the North Korean government. That is what we have to be sure of," the Prime Minister told reporters as quoted by The Star Online.

Relations between Kuala Lumpur and Pyongyang have been tense since Kim Jong-nam was killed on February 13 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Highly toxic gas was smeared on his face as he was about to board a flight to Macau. Kim is believed to be killed by a VX nerve agent classified by the United Nations as a weapon of mass destruction.

The scandal erupted after the North Korean ambassador to Kuala Lumpur said that the Malaysian government had "something to conceal" with respect to the death of the Korean national on February 13. A number of foreign intelligence services have opined that Kim Jong-un could be involved in masterminding the murder of his half-brother, according to media reports.

On Tuesday, Pyongyang temporarily banned Malaysian nationals from leaving North Korea until measures are taken to protect North Korean diplomats and nationals in Malaysia. Malaysia followed suit, issuing a directive that prohibits North Korean diplomatic staff from leaving the country.

Following the murder of the North Korean leader’s half-brother, Malaysian police have detained several people, including a North Korean national, and the two states declared the others' respective ambassadors personae non grata. However, the Malaysian police have not yet confirmed that the victim was Kim Jong-nam and have no compelling evidence that North Korea is connected to the murder.


Malaysian police foiled an attack on Saudi King Salman during his visit to Kuala Lumpur that took place last week, local police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said on Tuesday.

Malaysia Foils Terrorist Attack on Saudi King Salman in Kuala Lumpur
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201703071051337109-malaysia-attack-saudi-king/

07.03.2017 - He said that four out of seven suspects detained between February 21 and February 26 were from Yemen, one from Indonesia and two more from Malaysia.

They were planning to attack the Arab royalties during their visit in Kuala Lumpur. Thank God we got them in the nick of time. They didn’t manage to get close,” Abu Bakar told reporters, as quoted by the Malay Mail Online media outlet.

According to Abu Bakar, two Malaysians and an Indonesian had links to Daesh terrorist group and had been plotting a bomb attack. The Yemenis are said to be members of Yemen's rebel groups.

Salman ended his four-day state visit to Malaysia on Wednesday. It was the first country visited by the Saudi King as part of his month-long Asia tour.

The news comes after North Korean leader's half-brother Kim Jong Nam was killed at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The highly toxic gas was smeared on his face as he was about to board a flight to Macau. Kim is believed to be killed by a VX nerve agent classified by the United Nations as a weapon of mass destruction.
 
In the West, even among people who consider themselves not susceptible to government-corporate media propaganda, any wild story about North Korea can be taken as credible. We should ask ourselves why that is the case, given what we know about the history of government and media fabrications, often related to gaining our acquiescence to a new war.

The Dubious Story of the Murder of Kim Jong-nam, Brother of DPRK Leader Kim Jong-un
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-dubious-story-of-the-murder-of-kim-jong-nam-brother-of-dprk-leader-kim-jong-un/5578256

March 08, 2017 - The corporate media reports North Korean agents murdered Kim Jong Nam with a banned chemical weapon VX. They fail to add that the US government is not a signatory to the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention. They rarely note the Malaysian police investigating the case have not actually said North Korea is connected to his death.

The story of his death or murder raises a number of serious questions. North Korea says Kim Jong Nam was not murdered, but suffered from heart problems, high blood pressure and diabetes, required constant medication, and this caused his death. The North Korean diplomat in Malaysia Ri Tong-il “cited the postmortem examination conducted by Malaysian health authorities, claiming that the postmortem showed Jong-nam died of a heart attack.”

Malaysian authorities conducted two autopsies, the second after the first said to be inconclusive in identifying a cause of death, before announcing well over a week later that VX was involved.

What was going on here? And why weren’t the autopsies made open to others besides Malaysian officials?

Why was the South Korean government the first country to come out quickly after Kim’s February 13 death to blame North Korea for murdering him with the VX nerve weapon – before Malaysia had determined anything? The Malaysian autopsy was not complete until February 23, ten days later.

Why did these two women charged with murder travel several times to South Korea before this attack occurred?

Why was the only North Korean arrested in the case released for lack of evidence?

The two women did not wear gloves, but had the liquid directly on their hands. “The police said the four North Korean suspects who left the country the day of the killing put the VX liquid on the women’s hands.”They later washed it off. Why did none of them die or even get sickened by it? No reports say they went to the hospital.

“Malaysian Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Khalid said the women knew they were handling poisonous materials during the attack…. leading forensic toxicologists who study murder by poison… question how the two women could walk away unscathed after deploying an agent potent enough to kill Kim Jong Nam before he could even make it to the hospital.”

“Tens of thousands of passengers have passed through the airport since the apparent assassination was carried out. No areas were cordoned off and protective measures were not taken.”

Why, if a highly deadly VX used to kill Kim, did the terminal remain open to thousands of travelers, and not shut down and checked for VX until February 26, 13 days later?

Health Minister Subramaniam Sathasivam said “VX only requires 10 milligrams to be absorbed into the system to be lethal,” yet he added that there have been no reports of anyone else being sickened by the toxin.

DPRK’s Ri Tong-il said in his statement, “How is it possible” the two ladies survived? “How is it possible” no single person in the airport got contaminated? “How is it possible” no nurse, no doctor, no police escorting Kim after the attack were affected?

Why does Malaysia, which acknowledges Kim Jong Nam is Kim Jong Un’s half-brother, make the outrageous demand that Kim’s body won’t be released to North Korea until a close family member provides a sample of their own DNA?

From what we are told, the story does not add up.

Ri Tong-il asked in his same statement “Why is South Korea trying so hard [to blame the DPRK] in this instance? They have a great political crisis inside South Korea [which is quite true] and they need to divert people’s attention,” noting also that the two women involved traveled to South Korea and that South Korea blamed the North for murder by VX the very day it happened.

Stephen Lendman also gives a plausible explanation:

“Here’s what we know. North Korean senior representatives were preparing to come to New York to meet with former US officials, a chance for both sides to discuss differences diplomatically, hopefully leading to direct talks with Trump officials.

The State Department hadn’t yet approved visas, a positive development if arranged.

Reports indicate North Korea very much wanted the meeting to take place. Makes sense. It would indicate a modest thaw in hostile relations, a good thing if anything came of it.


So why would Pyongyang want to kill Kim Jong-nam at this potentially sensitive time, knowing it would be blamed for the incident, talks likely cancelled?

Sure enough, they’re off, Pyongyang accused of killing Kim, even though it seems implausible they planned and carried out the incident, using agents in Malaysia to act as proxies.”

Is possible that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un decided to murder his apolitical brother, chosing to do so by using a banned highly toxic agent in public, under video cameras in a crowded airport of a friendly country? Instead of say, doing it by easier means in the North Korean Embassy’s guesthouse in Kuala Lumpur, where the New York Times said his brother sometimes stayed?

We are not supposed to doubt what we are spoon fed, that Kim Jong Un is some irrational war-mongering madman who has instituted a reign of terror. A safer bet is this is a new attempt to beat the drums of war against North Korea and its allies.
 
Thanks for these additions, angelburst29. :cool2: There certainly are more questions than answers around this dubious case for sure.

The two women did not wear gloves, but had the liquid directly on their hands. “The police said the four North Korean suspects who left the country the day of the killing put the VX liquid on the women’s hands.”They later washed it off. Why did none of them die or even get sickened by it? No reports say they went to the hospital.

“Malaysian Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Khalid said the women knew they were handling poisonous materials during the attack…. leading forensic toxicologists who study murder by poison… question how the two women could walk away unscathed after deploying an agent potent enough to kill Kim Jong Nam before he could even make it to the hospital.”

“Tens of thousands of passengers have passed through the airport since the apparent assassination was carried out. No areas were cordoned off and protective measures were not taken.”

Why, if a highly deadly VX used to kill Kim, did the terminal remain open to thousands of travelers, and not shut down and checked for VX until February 26, 13 days later?

Maybe the two women had been supplied with an antidote beforehand (if such antidote exists in the first place) and maybe the poison doesn't work properly at greater distances and/or after longer periods of time because of dilution below lethal dose ?

Just thinking out loud...
 
This story is up on SOTT now (RT-version):

https://www.sott.net/article/344748-Man-claiming-to-be-Kim-Jong-nams-son-records-video-address
 
Palinurus said:
This story is up on SOTT now (RT-version):

https://www.sott.net/article/344748-Man-claiming-to-be-Kim-Jong-nams-son-records-video-address

I have a feeling, that we might see more of Kim Han-sol in the future. He seems like "a bright and down to earth" kind of individual? In this article, he states his Father had no interest in Politics, so he wasn't a threat to his half Brother in power, Kim Jong-un. What the motive for Kim Jong-nam's assassination is, I have no clue but his Son, Kim Han-sol is in direct line to be heir? If the Dutch, have indeed, given the family safe haven and protection, it may work out to their benefit in the future?

Who is Kim Han-Sol, son of slain Kim Jong-nam and heir to North Korean regime?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/kim-han-sol-son-slain-135028136.html

The son of Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korean ruler Kim Jong-un assassinated in Malaysia on 13 February, made a rare video appearance, speaking publicly for the first time since his father's death.

The video was published on 7 March by the Cheollima Civil Defense, an organisation that focuses on rescuing North Korean defectors and refugees, and appeared to show the 21-year-old, who identified himself as "Kim Han-sol from North Korea, part of the Kim family".

Who is Kim Han-sol?

Kim Han-sol first attracted international attention when he moved to Bosnia to study at the United World College in Mostar, an international boarding school offering a multicultural learning environment and a mission to create a peaceful and sustainable future. He was the first North Korean student to attend the school, and indeed one of the first members of the secretive North Korean ruling family to be interviewed in Western media.

Speaking to Finnish broadcaster YLE in 2012, Kim Han-sol talked about his life, his relationship to his family and his hopes for the future.

Born in North Korea, he said he lived an ordinary yet isolated life in the country, until he moved to Macau after his father, who had been tipped to be the first in line to Kim Jong-il succession, reportedly fell out of favour with the regime after attempting to enter Japan to visit Disneyland with a fake passport in 2011. He would still come back to North Korea to visit his relatives, presumably his mother's family as he said he never met his paternal grandfather.

At his school in Macau he met people from other countries, including the US and South Korea, which sparked a desire about seeing more of the world and leaving Macau to study elsewhere. After graduating from UWC Mostar, Kim Han-sol moved to France in 2013 to study for a Bachelor degree in social science at the Sciences Po campus of Le Havre, where students follow the Europe-Asia programme. Following the assassination of Kim Jong-un's uncle Jang Song-thaek, Kim Han-sol was assigned police protection and asked journalists to leave him alone, as reported by South Korean media.

Where is Kim Han-sol now?

His current whereabouts are unknown. South Korean intelligence officers said they believe his family where living until recently in Macau under Chinese government protection, the New York Times reported.

In the video posted by the Cheollima Civil Defense, Kim Han-sol said he is with his mother and sister. The group said they assisted the three family members to relocate them to safety, but that the family's whereabouts will not be addressed. In a statement, the group thanks the governments of the Netherlands, China, the US and a fourth, unnamed one, for the support received in helping the family.

According to British tabloids, Kim Han-sol was admitted to Oxford University to further his education, but had to turn down the offer after his father's assassination. In the 2012 interview, Kim Han-sol said that after completing his studies, he was going to focus on volunteering and peace-building projects. "I have always dreamed one day I will go back and make things better, make it easier for all the people there," he told the interviewer.

What does Kim Han-sol think of Kim Jong-un?

Kim Han-sol said in the 2012 interview he never met neither neither his grandfather Kim Jong-il nor Kim Jong-un, who succeeded him as the country's supreme leader after his death in December 2011.

In fact, he hardly even know who his paternal grandfather was and only understood later in life he was North Korea's ruler, after piecing together conversations his parents had. "I really did not know if he knew I existed". Kim Han-sol said he was living the life of an ordinary citizen in North Korea, before the family left the country to live in Macau. "My dad was definitely not really interested in politics. I really don't know how he [Kim Jong-un] became a dictator ... It was between him and my grandfather," he added.

He expressed a strong desire for the reunification of the country. "I also dream of reunification because it's really sad that I can't go to the other side [South Korea] and see my friends there."

He added: "It is just political issues that divide the nation in half."


[...] There was no indication where or precisely when the video was made.

Son of Kim Jong Nam breaks family’s silence on assassination
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/03/08/asia-pacific/son-kim-jong-nam-breaks-familys-silence-assassination/#.WMGx3f4zUdW

Han Sol, 21, is believed to have graduated from Sciences Po university in Paris and had been living in exile with his parents in the Chinese territory of Macau before he disappeared with his mother and sister following his father’s death.

Because of his bloodline, Han Sol could be seen as a rival figurehead in a state that is ruled by his uncle Kim Jong Un and is roiled by bloody purges.

Malaysia has yet to formally identify the dead man as Kim or release the body, with police saying they are waiting for next of kin to come forward and provide a DNA sample.

On its website — registered only Saturday — CCD said that it was protecting Kim’s family.

“Cheollima Civil Defense responded last month to an emergency request by survivors of the family of Kim Jong Nam for extraction and protection. The three family members were met quickly and relocated to safety,” it said in English.

“We have in the past addressed other urgent needs for protection,” it asserted. “This will be the first and last statement on this particular matter, and the present whereabouts of this family will not be addressed.”

The group thanked countries “for the emergency humanitarian assistance afforded to us in protecting this family,” including the Netherlands, China and the United States, plus an unspecified fourth government.

It praised the Dutch ambassador to South Korea, Lody Embrechts, in particular “for his timely and strong response to our sudden request for assistance,” calling him “a credit to the people of the Netherlands and their long and principled stance for human rights and humanitarian norms.”

Neither the Netherlands Embassy in Seoul nor CCD could be reached for comment.

“Cheollima” is a mythical winged horse originating in ancient Chinese myths. CCD uses South Korean transliteration for the word, and some of the Korean text on its website reads as if it may have been translated from English.

Kim Sung Min, a high-profile defector who operates an anti-Pyongyang radio station, said the group appears to be associated with activists based in the United States.

South Koreans left messages of encouragement for Han Sol on YouTube, with some inviting him to defect to the South.

“It must have been very painful for him when he said ‘my father has been killed,’ ” wrote one user.

Another said: “Be safe. You’re important to us, and to our future as a divided nation.”


KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s prime minister said Wednesday that relatives of Kim Jong Nam, the long-exiled half brother of North Korea’s ruler, may be too scared to come forward to provide DNA samples following his mysterious poisoning death in a crowded airport terminal in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysian leader says Kim Jong Nam family may be scared to come forward
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/03/08/asia-pacific/malaysian-leader-says-kim-jong-nam-family-may-scared-come-forward/#.WMG0bf4zUdU

Prime Minister Najib Razak spoke a day after a stunning breakdown in diplomatic ties between Malaysia and North Korea over the investigation into Kim’s death on Feb. 13. Najib said his country still wants to negotiate with Pyongyang despite the increasingly bitter dispute.

“This is (a) sensitive matter, best conducted in secrecy,” he said, adding that authorities are still trying to get DNA samples from Kim’s immediate family to formally identify his body.

Maybe they are scared to come forward,” Najib said.

Two women swiped Kim’s face with VX nerve agent as he waited for a flight home to Macau last month, Malaysian authorities say. The investigation has infuriated North Korea, which has dismissed the inquiry as politically motivated.

Many speculate that North Korea somehow orchestrated the attack, which it denies. Malaysia has never directly accused Pyongyang of being behind the hit.

The dispute took a surprising turn on Tuesday, when North Korea announced that it was blocking all Malaysians from leaving the country until a “fair settlement” of the case.

Malaysia responded in kind and barred North Koreans from exiting its soil.

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Wednesday that Malaysia is willing to negotiate.

“So far, we believe they are going to act rationally,” he said. “We believe what is important for us is to maintain our diplomatic relationship with them because I think what is important is the safety of our citizens in Pyongyang.”

Najib has denounced North Korea’s order as “an abhorrent act, effectively holding our citizens hostage” and a violation of international law.

“I can’t think of anything like this” happening for years, Lalit Mansingh, a New Delhi-based scholar and longtime top Indian diplomat, said of North Korea’s directive. “This is way out of normal diplomatic practice.”

But North Korea has a long history of surprising the international community.

“It’s the North Korean way of doing things — dramatic, intimidating gestures and then waiting for the other side to plead for some concessions,” said Leszek Buszynski, a national security scholar at the Australian National University who has written extensively on North Korean diplomacy.

Officials in Kuala Lumpur say there are 11 Malaysians currently in North Korea: three working at the embassy, two U.N. employees and six family members. About 1,000 North Koreans are believed to be in Malaysia, until recently one of the few countries where North Koreans could travel without a visa.

North Korea’s surprise order came Tuesday morning, when the official Korean Central News Agency said the country was banning Malaysians from leaving “until the safety of the diplomats and citizens of (North Korea) in Malaysia is fully guaranteed through the fair settlement of the case.”

It was not clear, however, what would constitute a “fair settlement.”

North Korea said Malaysia’s diplomats and citizens “may work and live normally” during the temporary exit ban.

Malaysia is searching for seven North Korean suspects in connection with Kim’s assassination, including a North Korean diplomat. Police say three suspects are believed to be in hiding at the North Korean Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, a hulking concrete mansion behind a wall streaked with water stains.

National police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said Malaysia would not raid the embassy, which is protected under diplomatic law, but would wait for the suspects to emerge.

“We will wait. We will wait, and if it takes five years we will wait outside. Definitely somebody will come out,” Khalid said.

Malaysia has said the two women who poisoned Kim were recruited by a team of North Koreans. A Malaysian autopsy found that Kim was killed with VX, a nerve agent and banned chemical weapon that causes convulsions and leaves victims unable to breathe. North Korea is widely believed to possess large quantities of chemical weapons, including VX.

The women, one from Vietnam and the other from Indonesia, were quickly caught and have been charged with murder. Both say they were duped into thinking they were playing a harmless prank.

Custody of the body has become a flash point. Malaysia says it needs to conduct DNA tests to formally identify the body, but North Korea says it has no right to keep the body of a North Korean citizen.

Kim, who was in his mid-40s, had lived abroad for years and had reportedly never met younger half brother, North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un.
 
Impressive sleuthing again, angelburst29. You're very good at that IMO. :clap:

Alas, I've nothing to offer in return ATM. So far, it's not big news over here in the Netherlands. In fact, we may count ourselves lucky it was ever mentioned here at all and there's no follow-up as of yet, as far as I've been able to ascertain.
 
Thanks for the compliment Palinurus but sometimes, it feels like I'm "guided" to certain information, on a given topic? My impression of Kim Han-Sol, is much in line with Libya's Gaddafi's Son, Saif - neither are interested in "World Domination" - only unification of their respected Countries and the well being of it's citizen's. It may be wishful thinking on my part but it's the general feeling. I also sense, due to unjustified interference from other Countries and the untimely assassinations of their Father's, Kim Han-Sol and Saif just want their own cultures and identities back - not to be absorbed into a "one size fits all" ideology of a foreign elite dominating force? If "America is to become Great again" we need to get our nose (and our military) out of other people's Countries. We need to follow in Putin's footsteps and start using Statesmanship and mutual dialog.

I happened to come across this interesting article. It suggests, the North Korean leader's half-sister, Kim Sol-song may be the real power in NK?

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un might actually be not as powerful as he seems. Lately, more and more experts from the neighboring South Korea have proclaimed the North Korean leader's half-sister Kim Sol-song could actually be the one who has real power in the country.

North Korean Leader's Sister Said to Be the One Who Secretly Rules the Country
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201702251051041155-north-korean-leader-sister/

Rumors started to emerge in South Korea in 2013, with several experts saying that Kim Sol-song, who is 11 years older than her half-brother, was the one who actually ruled the country when Kim Jong Un came to power.

During his speech at the Koryo University, South Korean political expert Cheong Seong-Chang said that many decisions made by the North Korean leader have usually been approved by his half-sister.

"According to reliable sources, it seems to be true that in the system of the DPRK leadership any decision of the head of state requires the approval of his elder sister," the Director of the Department of Unification Strategy Studies at the Sejong Institute stated.

According to various reports, such distribution of power between the sister and the brother could have been planned by their father, Kim Jong Il.

For instance, in 2013, Korean Sisain weekly reported that "Kim Jong Il highly appreciated the potential of his daughter, who has an education in the field of IT, and even trusted her to manage the entire IT sector of the DPRK."

At the same time, some people believe that the assumptions are nothing more than just rumors. For instance, Kim Jeongbong, former senior official of the National Intelligence Service Korea and professor at the Hanzhong University believes that Kim Sol-song "is an ordinary woman, who is definitely not starving, because of the fact that she is the daughter and sister of the head of the country."

Whether the rumors are based on truth or not, remains to be seen. According to the experts, a book on the issue is expected to be published in the near future.

Kim Jong Un became North Korean leader in 2011 after the death of his father Kim Jong II. Since taking office, Kim Jong Un was believed to have absolute authority in the country. He is notorious for his hard-power policy towards his own party members and is said to have executed over 100 military and government officials who dared to criticize him.


The news of the mysterious death of the North Korean leader’s half-brother Kim Jong-nam took the internet by storm. The media has kept revealing startling new details of the murder. Meanwhile, the basic version of the sudden death of Kim Jong-nam was that he was eliminated by the special services of North Korea.

Who Killed the North Korean Leader's Half-Brother? Versions and Speculations
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201702171050797790-north-korea-murder-speculations/

Three experts shared their opinions with Sputnik Japan about what do they think actually happened.

According to the Russian diplomat and orientalist Georgy Toloraya, the most likely version is that the North Korean secret services could have actually been involved in the murder.

“The main assumption is the obvious one: Kim Jong-nam was eliminated on the orders of Kim Jong-un as he threatened his position as a possible alternative candidate. The argument against this version is that Kim Jong-un could have gotten rid of the ‘opponent’ in the past also,” Toloraya told Sputnik Japan.

He further said that currently Kim Jong-nam did not represent a particular danger to the leader. However, it is possible that maybe someone was holding Kim Jong-nam as an “alternate ace up their sleeve” in case something happened and he could replace Kim Jong-un.

“Maybe he came in contact with the South Koreans, who tried to use him to undermine the power of Kim Jong-un. Such hints have appeared in the press. It is difficult to judge whether these statements are true, but, in any case, it might have given the motive for Kim Jong-un to remove his brother publicly and demonstratively,” the diplomat said.

Meanwhile, South Korean spy agencies suspect that the hunt for Kim Jong-nam has been ongoing since 2012.

Prime Minister Hwang-Kyo ahn, who is the acting President of South Korea said that in the case of confirmation of North Korean leader’s involvement in the death of Kim Jong-nam, it will be evident that the North Korean regime is cruel.

Russian expert on Korea, Konstantin Asmolov had a more skeptical take on this incident. In an interview with Sputnik Japan he said that the charges require proof.

He also said that the Chinese media, for example, is not considering only the North Koreans in this because it is important to see who will actually benefit from his death.

“First of all, it shows how terrible the North Korean regime is with the leader of the country killing his brother in such a brutal manner. The goal is to push the US administration to a more decisive action against North Korea,” Asmolov said.

One of the Chinese experts at the Institute of Northeast Asia at the Jilin University of Ba Dianjun, in an interview with Sputnik said that there is no confirmed information about the cause of death of Kim Jong-nam and making hypotheses would be irresponsible.

“Right now many media especially in Japan and South Korea focus on Chinese-DPRK relations. After all, Kim Jong-nam has spent most of his time in Macau. There is a point of view suggesting that he was some sort of a backup choice for China in case there would be need to form a new order in North Korea. I, on the contrary, believe that the death of Kim Jong-nam demonstrates that China has no such plans,” the expert said.

In the current situation, under the new US administration, the THAAD missile defense system deployment is a strategic plan for the West, hence, it is important for them to influence Chinese-North Korea relations.

Konstantin Asmolov noted an interesting fact saying that the South Korean cable channel painted the image of the murder even before the Malaysian police confirmed the death of Kim Jong-nam.

“After all, when he felt ill it was not yet known who exactly he was. At first, South Korean media referred to the Malaysian police, but there was no confirmation from them. After that the media referred to anonymous but well-informed sources in the government,” Asmolov said.

On February 13, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was killed at an airport in Malaysia.

Kim Jong-nam, aged 45, was the eldest son of North Korea's late leader Kim Jong-il and actress Sung Hae-rim. Before he left the country for Macau, he was considered the main candidate for succeeding Kim Jong-il.
 
Apparently, It has been confirmed that it was Kim Jong-nam, traveling under the alias of Kim Chol that was assassinated.

Also, in another report this morning, South Korean Constitutional Court has approved Impeachment of President Park Geun-hye.

Just speculation on my part but if there is any truth to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's - half Sister, as the main power and control over North Korea, and maybe with some inside information - that South Korean President Park Geun-hye was to be formally Impeached, to help solidify her position, Kim Sol-song had her Brother eliminated?

Launching ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan and the International out cry of the demonstrations, places the blame on Kim Jong-un, when in fact, he might just be a willing and useful "pawn" for his half sister's aspirations? It may have also been Kim Sol-song who gave the orders to execute over 100 military and government officials, NOT Kim Jong-un? If there is an assassination attempt on Kim Jong-un, I would put his half Sister, Kim Sol-song on the top of the list of suspects?

Malaysian police have confirmed that the North Korean man who died in the Kuala Lumpur airport in February was the brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the Xinhua news agency reported Friday.

Confirmed: Man Who Died in Kuala Lumpur Aiport Was Kim Jong-un's Brother
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201703101051439840-kim-jong-nam-investigation/

A man believed to be Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and travelling under the name of Kim Chol, died on February 13 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. According to Malaysian police, Kim was killed by VX, a nerve agent is classified as a weapon of mass destruction by the United Nations, but the North Korean embassy in Russia said that he died of a heart attack.


Impeachment of South Korean President Approved by Constitutional Court
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201703101051431382-south-korean-president-impeachment-upheld/

The Constitutional Court of South Korea has upheld the parliament decision to impeach President Park Geun-hye, suspended over a corruption scandal.
 
Yoichi Shimatsu is a forensic journalist and has put together some background information surrounding the suppose murder/assassination of Kim Jong-nam. North Korea has not received his body yet from Malaysia. In many ways, this article was like reading a spy novel. It's claimed, "KLIA security reported the presence of radioactivity inside the airport along Kim’s path." Then goes into some detail on the simultaneous presence of VX and a radioactive isotope and who might have access to it. He then relates the political climate in Malaysia and CIA involvement.

Demonization Campaign: ROGUE CIA-NIS Agents STAGED Murder Of Kim Jong Nam
http://www.4thmedia.org/2017/03/rogue-cia-nis-agents-staged-murder-of-kim-jong-nam/

Tuesday, March 14, 2017 - The media campaign to blame North Korea for the airport assassination of exile Kim Jong Nam collapsed after Malaysian police failed to force a phony confession out of their chief suspect under arrest. The “Transporter” Ri Jong-choi, who was accused of dropping off two alleged female assassins to murder the half-brother of North Korea’s supreme leader, regained his freedom after intensive scrutiny of airport security videos showed his presence in or near the airport on February 13, the day of the killing.

The falsely accused suspect flew to Beijing in transit to his homeland and spoke to reporters gathered outside the North Korean embassy this past weekend on Saturday March 4. His account for reporters blew apart the official cover story. Ri said that during his detention police officers “kept telling me to admit to the crime and if not, my whole family would be killed.”

The officers showed him photographs of what purported to be his family members inside a North Korean prison. The counterfeit images had obviously been cut-and-paste Photoshop alterations by a South Korean intelligence team, which inserted prison backgrounds into family snapshots probably pulled from Facebook or Weibo.

“That’s when I realized this was a conspiracy, a plot to discredit the status and honor of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” Ri stated to the press. No dummy, he was astute enough to realize that Malaysian police assurances of a comfortable future in Malaysia were a crude lie. If he taken the fall for the Kim Jong Nam murder, he’d now be destined for the death penalty.

At the time of his arrest, the Malaysian police said at a news conference that Ri has “expertise in chemistry”, implying that he was trained in handling the VX nerve gas allegedly used against Kim Jong Nam. It turns out that Ri’s chemical knowledge is limited to his job as a buyer of raw materials such as detergents, natural oils and fragrances for the soap industry.

Lesson: Never ever give credence to the mainstream media, especially in a place as corrupt and dominated by the CIA as Malaysia.

The unwitting role of the two alleged murderesses, who were recorded by airport security monitors rubbing liquid on Kim’s face prior to his death, is discussed further on. The more pressing questions are: Who organized this elaborate false-flag attack and for what purpose?

When the sensational assassination at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) is compared with the time=line of Korea-related events, two main motives behind the sabotage of Track II become immediately apparent.

- First State Department hawks and the CIA were eager to sabotage the Trump team’s effort to hold confidential security talks in New York with North Korean diplomats. The Track II meeting was scheduled for the third week of February. In contrast to the normal state-to-state standards of Track I diplomacy, Track II is loosely defined as “ “non-governmental, informal and unofficial contacts and activities between private citizens or groups of individuals”. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson were aiming to establish a dialogue with Pyongyang to begin the long trek back from nuclear brinksmanship to restart negotiations toward a non-nuclear Korean Peninsula. The secret effort is needed after the Obama-Hillary team dumped diplomacy in favor of a reckless and futile “pivot to Asia”, which only further antagonized Pyongyang and Beijing.

- Second, a national-security scare was desperately desired by South Korea’s ruling conservative Liberty Korea Party (LKP) due to the looming impeachment of President Park Geun-hye for her secret connections with an apocalyptic cult. While a broad opposition coalition was gaining popular support with massive street protests, the LKP turned to scare tactics to whip up anti-Pyongyang fears. This explains the use of VX, an organophosphate reputed to be the deadliest of all nerve gas agents. What more convenient target for a false flag attack was there than the self-exiled Kim Jong Nam, the black sheep of North Korea’s ruling family?

The CIA and Seoul’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) could reap even more benefits from a false-flag attack using a weapon of mass destruction,
using their imbecile mouthpieces in Congress to call for a motion to expel North Korea from the UN, which then could be exploited by The New York Times, the Washington Post and the other liberal shills.

The target of this orchestrated campaign of murder and fake news is not really Pyongyang, which is already isolated; the greater objective is to paralyze and oust Donald Trump from the White House. To stage murders for the purpose of unconstitutional removal of a duly elected president is something akin to high treason.

Stunned in Pyongyang This article is delayed somewhat because I was waiting to hear from a South Korean advocate of reunification to return from a visit to Pyongyang. The reaction to the news of Kim Jong Un’s death in Malaysia was not greeted with celebrations over the demise of an exile, rival to is brother or a potential traitor.

For North Koreans his poisoning was another grim reminder of how the Western alliance will resort to any foul trick to vilify their small community for refusing to yield on their knees.

For all their toughness and discipline, North Koreans were astonished and horrified by the calculated murder of someone who had never done anything to harm the United States or South Korea. His only “crime” was to be from North Korea. The public response in the North, he said, was one of sadness about the cold-heartedness of Americans and self-righteous Christian zealots in South Korea.

Here again is proof that the term “intelligence agency” is an oxymoron, since the CIA are a bunch of morons in need of oxygen instead of cocaine ringing around their brains. Now their fall guy has just walked free because the CIA and its South Korean sidekicks can’t even stage a televised airport murder without screwing up.

Why should US taxpayers be paying massive entitlements for these evil clowns? The answer to that recurrent question is: So that billions of dollars can be spent on Raytheon and Lockheed, and kickbacks to Congress, instead of being wasted on health care, education, infrastructure or tax rebates.

Instead of getting angry about deliberate sabotage of his diplomacy, the president needs to stay cool, calm and collected and consult the Office of Management and Budget about line-item cuts.

The Merry Pranksters The two Southeast Asian women who were lured into stage-acting as the killers were decoys in the run by the actual murderers. Truthful forensic evidence is at stake, when in a blatant violation of national jurisdiction, the Malaysian authorities have refused to turn the corpse over to North Korean embassy officials. There is a need for lab tests done in North Korea, and before that samples taken for an independent inquiry.

That’s assuming that Kim is not still alive and being held by the CIA at one of its special rendition facilities aka illegal prisons. Make-up artists at the CIA could easily work up a dummy or alter the body of John Doe/Doh to resemble Kim in a coffin, in one of those disguises straight out of Mission Impossible. The Kim family, however, might know about a few birthmarks and so the fraud would be detected and the body would not be returned to his homeland for burial.

Both female suspects have stated they were hired, for $100 each, to play a prank on the target male by spreading baby oil on his face. They had no idea of who he was or where he was from. The Malaysian police reported that after the incident, the women went to a ladies washroom straightaway.

The police speculated they might have worn thin latex gloves to avoid touching VX. If a small dosage of VX mixed with petroleum oil was present, particle would have been flung when the gloves were snapped off, felling the assailants. Vapors from the gloves would most certainly have harmed any other women who later used the same toilet area.

The lethal toxicity of VX persists for between three and 10 days at air temperatures lower than 70 Fahrenheit. The indoor environment at Kuala Lumpur International Airport was not decontaminated. No janitors, passengers, security staff or medical personnel reported symptoms of chemical poisoning.

So the logical question arises: Was Kim Jong Nam killed with an injection inside the airport clinic while he was seeking medical advice about the baby oil spread on his face?

For anyone who can recall the Tokyo subway gassing, 20,000 commuters were sprawled inside and on top of several subway stations, bleeding from their eyes, noses and throats, and those gases were much weaker than VX. I remember because I was in downtown Tokyo that morning and then led the only honest investigation, and now the event at KLIA strikes my mind as something other than the public use of nerve gas.

One of the two female suspects, the tall Vietnamese woman Doan Thi Hoang, was reported by Malaysia’s Chinese press as having lived for more than two months “in China”. The same articles suggests more precisely that her temporary stay was more in Macau, an autonomous region famed for its American-owned casinos and prostitution.

There she allegedly was an escort, a euphemism for a sex worker. Macau is the location of the Sands Casino, whose owner Sheldon Adelson and his Mormon securty team got entangled in a CIA entrapment scheme involving a gambling boss named Paul Phua, a case that soon led to State Department control over the Malaysian prime minister.

The other female suspect Siti Aishah from Jakarta, Indonesia, is a divorcee who works as a masseuse. Press reports tried to incriminate her with statements from her family that she speaks Korean. Foreign language fluency in itself is not proof of wrongdoing, since many masseuses in Southeast Asia learn other Asian languages to converse with Asian clients.

As put by an Indonesian investigative journalist who I queried: “Her only guilt is having a price on her head.” In short, Siti Aishah is a marked woman, who has been assigned the blame by the subhuman filth at the CIA and NIS. Jakarta is where Barack Obama spent his formative years during the Suharto era, following the CIA coup that involved the massacre of 2 million supporters of the then existing Sukarno regime.

Yes, these two women have a price on their heads, 100 dollars for the death penalty. That’s mighty generous of the CIA.

Radioactivity Mystery - KLIA security reported the presence of radioactivity inside the airport along Kim’s path. The likeliest explanation for the simultaneous presence of VX and a radioactive isotope is:

- a thin film of a heat-emitting radioisotope, such as americium or polonium, can be used to vaporize VX, which is a dense oil;

- a small amount of this radioactive “heater”, topped with a tiny drop of VX organophosphate, could have been applied to Kim’s coat collar for rapid inhalation of the chemical. His coat, however, would have been handled by a nurse or orderly at the airport clinic, harming them seriously;

- Kim may have ingested VX and a radioactive isotope mixed into a beverage, probably a cup of coffee, which would have covered over the bitterness of the toxins. This is a much likelier possibility.

The presence of radioactivity indicates that Kim was poisoned before he entered the airport, probably at a cafe. Who was with him at the time?

The police haven’t dared investigate these inconvenient facts, which might interrupt the hanging of Siti Aishah and Doan Thi Hoang. Isn’t odd that we’re not hearing angry protests in defense of these two female scapegoats from Madonna, Meryl Streep, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and the rest of their feminist chorus?

The airport security video shows two male companions walking on either side of Kim. If so, their identities and roles have not been released. Nor has any information about his activities prior to entering the airport, for example, if he had met other people, who might then be added to the suspect list along with the two female patsies.

Despite these omissions by the official investigation, the Malaysian police have claimed that Kim Jong Nam’s death occurred just before the four North Korean “masterminds” boarded a flight to Indonesia, allegedly on a roundabout circuit via Dubai to Pyongyang. Yet not a shred of evidence so far suggests involvement by any of the four. North Koreans had better stay at home because, wherever they go, they could end up being accused of heinous crimes.

The huge holes in the police story indicate that Kim was probably murdered by agents with the CIA in cooperation with NIS. Despite the ban on chemical weapons, the US has a stockpile of VX “for research purposes”.

For plausible deniability, however, the likelier source of VX and the radioactive isotope would be the Japanese covert operations service, which was involved in sponsoring Aum Shinrikyo’s VX experiments on three Japanese victims prior to the subway gassing.

That’s because Japan uses Soviet-era production processes, obtained an Aum Shinrikyo smuggling operation connected with Shinzo Abe’s trade in weapons of mass destruction. Abe and his colleagues in the Unification Church aka the Moonies were involved in massive secret shipments of nerve gases from Volvograd (Stalingrad) starting in the late 1980s until the day before the March 20, 1996 Tokyo subway gassing.

Been There, Done That As the lead investigative editor in the Tokyo subway affair, I traced the precursor chemicals for nerve-gas production along a twisting route from a Yokohama chemical producer’s warehouse to Matsumoto, in Nagano Prefecture, where the barrels were transferred at night to different trucks to evade spy-satellite detection. The road led into the Central Japan Alps, where a secret chemical plant, funded by the Japanese government and run by a major corporation, was producing nerve gas under the guise of a pesticide plant or possibly a distillery.

At that point of the tracking effort, the Japanese government ordered the closure of Takarajima30 magazine, the end to my editorship and transfer of the Japan Times Weekly to staffers associated with Soka Gakkai, one of the groups involved in the start-up of Aum Shinrikyo. Needless to say, the US news media and the CIA and South Korean intelligence were involved in the cover-up of the Tokyo subway affair, just as they are now doing in Kuala Lumpur.

Now, just prior to the 26th anniversary of the Tokyo subway gassing, organophosphate nerve gas has resurfaced in Kuala Lumpur. By coincidence, the Embassy of Japan has taken an active role in intelligence operations in the Malaysian capital, including suppression of information related to the health effects of Fukushima radioactivity releases.

Kuala Lumpur is one of those hubs of trilateral cooperation between the neo-fascist spies of Japan, the USA and Korea, who are anything but defenders of truth, justice and democracy. Recall what happened to MH370, a disappearing act from the same cast of magicians.

Roots in Unit 731 The black ops staged by these three powers has dark roots in the Japanese occupation of Korea and takeover of Northeast China. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s grandfather was the financial secretary of the quasi-military South Manchuria Railway, which is the pioneer in false-flag attacks including railroad bombings falsely blamed on the Chinese side.

The Kishi-Abe clan, rooted in Yamaguchi Prefecture, is closely associated with the wartime Black Dragon secret society (named after the Heilongjiang river border between China and Russia), comprised of the military police called the Kempeitai and gangster militias, which would later in the postwar era gain notoriety as the yakuza.

This fascist movement used Korean soldiers to carry out the more brutal attacks against the national resistance forces and to commit armed robberies, as in chopping off fingers to obtain rings embedded with precious stones. One of those Korean collaborators recruited into the Japanese Army was Park Chung-hee, later became a postwar president of South Korea and father of current leader Park Geun-hye. Reputedly, he spoke Japanese with greater fluency than Korean.

As a leading bureaucrat in the puppet state of Manchukuo, Kishi supported the chemical and biological warfare group designated as Unit 731, which conducted live tests not only on prisoners but through unleashing bubonic plague and other toxic agents on Chinese urban populations.

Following Japan’s defeat, Unit 731 evaded punishment for war crimes by being transferred to the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, under the auspices of Japanese-friendly American military officers, most of them Mormons trained in the Japanese language. (Fast forward to the Mormon security men at Adelson’s casinos, involved entrapment of Malaysian officials and how Doan Thi Hoang resided in Macau.)

This hidden legacy of trilateral cooperation has continued as a driving force for political intimidation, news censorship and war-mongering in South Korea and Japan. With such devious, aggressive and downright vile foes, is it any wonder the North Korea has to arm itself to the teeth, even if its military counterforce is minuscule compared with the hoard of weapons of mass destruction secretly accumulated by a neofascist Japan.

Therefore President Donald Trump’s advocacy of nonaggression, sensible dialogue and quiet confidence in American power deserves a chance to halt the arms race and to stop with the senseless confrontational mentality. The Deep State structure defying Trump’s is even more of a menace to American democracy, and therefore must be plucked out root and branch.

Why Malaysia? This our final question is a no-brainer after the disappearance of MH370. Since the tragic fates for MH370 and MH17, the Malaysian government of Prime Minister Najib Razak has been beholden to the CIA ever since this deputy Zahir Hamidi fell into an entrapment scam laid by the CIA in Las Vegas.

The CIA takeover of the Malaysian government started with the arrest of gambling boss Paul Phua, a dual citizen of Macau and Malaysia, who ran a sports-gambling match-fixing operation out of both territories.

After escaping a gambling fraud probe in Macau, he found shelter at the Sands Casino in Vegas, where the CIA installed wiretaps on his phone, intercepted his emails and inspected his posted letters. Following his arrest by the FBI under CIA orders, the spooks had Phua’s lawyer request the Malaysian police chief to vouch for him as a character witness. When Zahir Hamidi unwisely took the bait and wrote effusive praise for Phua, the mouse trap snapped.

Najib Razak sullenly consented to a CIA demand to establish a “joint anti-terrorism base” in Malaysia, a cover for a planned air base in northeast Sabah with nearby naval facilities on the Sulu Sea, strategically enclosed by Malaysia and the Philippines, in easy airstrike reach of the Chinese island bases in the Spratley archipelago.

The secret Malaysian base provides a substitute for former US military stations in Mindanao, Philipppines, where the CIA and military “advisers” were expelled after getting entangled in arms trading, dealing with Islamic militants, murders for hire, staged fake terrorist strikes, you name it, the war dogs do it.

Meanwhile Najib Razak got caught up in the embezzlement of several billion dollars from the Malaysian Development fund known as 1MDB. The vast sum was laundered through Goldman Sachs in Singapore through several other banks to accounts in the Cayman Islands and one of Zahir Hamidi’s playboy allies in the US.

These scandals required the Najib team to dispatch a lawyer to the USA during the presidential campaign to pay off, allegedly, former Attorney General Eric Holder (who suddenly became much richer) and a tidy sum stuffed into Hillary Clinton’s handbag.

As for Trump’s aborted attempt at statesmanship, nobody has ever believed that politics is fair or played by the rules. So there you have it: high-level intrigue and black operations at the same Kuala Lumpur International Airport where MH370 was hijacked and flown to the U.S. military base on Diego Garcia.

If Donald Trump is serious about making America Great Again, he’s going to have to flush out lying murderous criminals who have caused untold numbers of blowbacks and demolished the overseas credibility of the United States.

It’s now time to set up a hotline to Pyongyang to call in condolences to Kim Jong Un for the senseless murder of his older brother. Can foreign policy get any more ridiculous? Yes, Hillary Clinton is still not in jail.
 
Malaysian police have confirmed the identity of a North Korean man killed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in February as Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, with the help of fingerprints provided by the Chinese authorities, media reported Tuesday, citing a source.

Kim Jong Nam's Identity Confirmed Based on Fingerprints Obtained From China
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201703141051557585-kim-jong-nam-fingerprints/

According to Singapore-based The Straits Times newspaper, Kim Jong Nam's fingerprints were kept in Macau, where he had lived with his family.

"Confirmation through fingerprint database is part of the process in identifying the victim in the context of DNA. It can be accepted aside from testing the samples of the victim's tissue, hair and blood with that of his family members," the source was quoted as saying.

Earlier in the month, Malaysian police requested DNA samples from Kim Jong Nam's family to confirm victim's identity.
 
According to reports, Interpol had issued a red notice for the arrest of four North Korean citizens suspected of the murder of North Korea leader’s half-brother Kim Jong Nam.

Interpol Issues Red Notice for 4 N.Korean Suspects in Kim Jong Nam Case - Police
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201703161051633763-interpol-kim-jong-nam-case/

Malaysian police said on Thursday that Interpol had issued a red notice for the arrest of four North Korean citizens suspected of the murder of North Korea leader’s half-brother Kim Jong Nam.

"I would like to inform you that we have obtained Interpol red notice for the four North Korean nationals who were at the airport on the day of the incident and who have since left and we believe to be in Pyongyang now," inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar told reporters as cited by the MalaysiaKini news portal.

An Interpol red notice is a request to locate and provisionally arrest an individual pending extradition, but is not considered an international arrest warrant.


Kuala Lumpur could give Pyongyang a body of Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, killed in Malaysia in exchange for nine country's citizens stranded in North Korea, Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Wednesday.

Malaysia Could Hand Kim Jong-Nam's Body to N Korea in Exchange for Nine Citizens
https://sputniknews.com/politics/201703151051612013-malaysia-north-korea-bodies-exchange/

On March 7, North Korean authorities temporarily prohibited the Malaysians from leaving the country following the murder of Kim Jong Nam and subsequent detention of suspects, including a North Korean national. Malaysia responded to the move by introducing the similar measures for North Korea's diplomatic staff.

We are looking into all possibilities," Hamidi said, as quoted by The Star news outlet, answering a question about the possibility to exchange the body on return of Malaysians.

He added that Kuala Lumpur was "working thoroughly" to get the Malaysians from North Korea.

The crisis in bilateral relations between the two Asian nations broke out after the murder of Kim Jong Namand has already resulted in declaration of each other's ambassadors personae non grata.
 
A suspect in the murder of North Korean leader’s half-brother Kim Jong Nam is a son of a former North Korean ambassador to Vietnam, South Korean media reported Wednesday, citing sources.

N Korean Suspect in Kim Jong Nam's Murder Son of Ex-Envoy to Vietnam
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201703221051830920-korea-brother-murder-vietnam/

According to the Yonhap news agency, the suspect is 33-years-old Ri Ji-hyon, who has lived in Vietnam for about 10 years and is the son of former North Korean Ambassador to Hanoi Ri Hong. Ri is suspected of having lured a Vietnamese woman, Doan Thi Huong, into the plan to kill Kim Jong Nam, the agency reported, adding that she and Indonesian Siti Aisyah allegedly smeared prohibited chemical weapon VX nerve agent on Kim Jong Nam's face.

Both Doan and Siti claimed that they thought it was part of a prank, according to the agency.

On February 13, Kim Jong Nam, traveling by the name of Kim Chol, was killed at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Malaysian investigators suspect that he was killed with a VX nerve agent. The substance is listed as a chemical weapon by the Chemical Weapons Convention and classified by the United Nations as a weapon of mass destruction.


Newsline: North Korean suspect in Jong-nam’s murder is son of ex-envoy to Vietnam
https://diplomaticbriefing.wordpress.com/2017/03/22/newsline-north-korean-suspect-in-jong-nams-murder-is-son-of-ex-envoy-to-vietnam/

Mar. 22, 2017 - A North Korean suspect in the killing of Kim Jong-nam is reportedly the son of a former top North Korean envoy to Vietnam, and he allegedly lured a Vietnamese female suspect to join the plot to kill the estranged half-brother of North Korea’s leader. Ri Ji Hyon, 33, is the son of former North Korean ambassador to Hanoi, Ri Hong, and had lived in Vietnam for about 10 years, Yonhap news agency quoted sources as saying on Wednesday. Ji Hyon worked as a trainee diplomat at the North Korean embassy for more than one year and he also worked as an interpreter, according to the sources. Using his fluent Vietnamese, he lured Doan Thi Huong into the plot to kill Jong-nam while the latter was waiting to board a flight to Macau at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2) on Feb 13, according to Yonhap. The Vietnamese woman and Indonesian Siti Aisyah allegedly smeared banned chemical weapon VX nerve agent on Jong-nam’s face. They have been charged with murder but they claim they were told that the act was a prank on a reality show. Ji Hyon is among four North Korean suspects who left Malaysia on the day Jong-nam was murdered and they are believed to have returned to Pyongyang. Interpol has issued a red notice to track down and arrest them.


JAKARTA/HANOI - A North Korean suspect in the killing of Kim Jong Nam is reportedly the son of a former top North Korean envoy to Vietnam and he allegedly lured a Vietnamese female suspect to join the plot to kill the estranged half-brother of North Korea's leader.

North Korean suspect in Kim Jong Nam's murder is son of ex-envoy to Vietnam: Report
http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/north-korean-suspect-in-kim-jong-nams-murder-is-son-of-ex-envoy-to-vietnam-report

Ri Ji Hyon, 33, is the son of former North Korean ambassador to Hanoi, Ri Hong, and had lived in Vietnam for about 10 years, Yonhap news agency quoted sources as saying on Wednesday (March 22).

Ri Ji Hyon worked as a trainee diplomat at the North Korean embassy for more than one year and he also worked as an interpreter, according to the sources.

Using his fluent Vietnamese, he lured Doan Thi Huong into the plot to kill Kim while the latter was waiting to board a flight to Macau at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2) on Feb 13, according to Yonhap.

The Vietnamese woman and Indonesian Siti Aisyah allegedly smeared banned chemical weapon VX nerve agent on Kim's face. They have been charged with murder but they claim they were told that the act was a prank on a reality show.

Ri is among four North Korean suspects who left Malaysia on the day Kim was murdered and they are believed to have returned to Pyongyang. Interpol has issued a red notice to track down and arrest them.

Malaysian police have also sought the North Korean embassy’s assistance to interview two other North Koreans, one of whom is an airline employee and the other a senior diplomat based in Kuala Lumpur.

But Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar conceded last month that while police could issue an arrest warrant for Air Koryo employee Kim Uk Il, they could not do the same for Second Secretary Hyon Kwang Song, who has diplomatic immunity.

Kim is believed to have been assassinated on the orders of his estranged half-brother, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
 
Two North Korean nationals suspected of being involved in the murder of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s half-brother Kim Jong Nam, have arrived in Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, media report.

North Koreans Suspected of Links to Kim Jong Nam’s Murder Arrive in Beijing
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201703311052145255-north-koreans-kim-jong-nam-beijing/

Hyon Kwang-song, the second secretary of the North Korean Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, and Air Koryo staff member Kim Wook-il arrived in Beijing in the early hours of Friday after being allowed to return home by the Malaysian authorities, KBS World Radio said.

They are expected to head for Pyongyang on Saturday.

On Thursday, Malaysian authorities announced that 9 Malaysians who had been barred from leaving by North Korea were allowed to return to Malaysia. In return, Malaysia lifted a ban on North Koreans leaving the country.

Malaysia imposed the ban after unsuccessfully requesting that Pyongyang hand over Hyon Kwang-song and Kim Wook-il on suspicion that they played a role in the February killing of Kim Jong Nam at a Kuala Lumpur airport.

The body of Kim Jong Nam, approved for release to his family in North Korea, arrived in Beijing on Friday and will soon be taken to Pyongyang, according to KBS World Radio.


Body of Kim Jong Nam, the slain half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, was delivered to North Korea on Friday after a transit through Beijing from the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, where Kim was assassinated, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry Lu Kang said.

Kim Jong Nam’s Body Delivered to North Korea Via Beijing
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201703311052163827-kim-jong-nam-body-china-korea/

China has provided humanitarian assistance for the transit in accordance with international laws, the spokesman added.

"The convoy and the body of a North Korean citizen deceased in Malaysia returned to North Korea via transit in Beijing today," Lu said at the press briefing.

On February 13, Kim, traveling by the name of Kim Chol, was killed at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Malaysian investigators suspect that he was killed with a VX nerve agent. The substance is listed as a chemical weapon by the Chemical Weapons Convention and classified by the United Nations as a weapon of mass destruction.

Earlier in the day, Hyon Kwang Song, the second secretary of the North Korean Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, and Air Koryo staff member Kim Wook Il arrived in Beijing after being allowed to return home by the Malaysian authorities as they are suspected of involvement in the murder of Kim.

Two North Korean nationals are expected to head for Pyongyang on Saturday.


North Korea launched four ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan quite possibly to deflect attention away from the high-profile assassination of Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Director of the Department of Unification Strategy Studies at the Sejong Institute Cheong Seong-Chang told Sputnik Korea.

North Korea Launches Missiles to 'Divert Attention From Kim Jong Nam's Murder'
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201703061051307405-north-korea-missile-launch/

It is highly possible that North Korea's latest missile tests are not only meant to serve as a response to joint military drills conducted by the United States and South Korea, but are also aimed at diverting attention away from the investigation of Kim Jong-nam's murder," the analyst.

Kim Jong-nam, once rumored to succeed Kim Jong-il as North Korea's leader, was assassinated at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on February 13. Pyongyang has been accused of being responsible for the killing, with North Korean officials denying the allegations.

Cheong Seong-Chang suggested that the latest launch was meant to "scare" Washington's allies in the region, Japan and South Korea, instead of the United States per se. The analyst added that Pyongyang's true motives could only be assessed after it issues a formal statement on the latest launch. North Korea has not commented on the missile launch yet, but last week the country promised to respond to the South Korean-US military drills which kicked off on Wednesday.

Earlier on Monday, North Korea launched four ballistic missiles deployed to the Tongchang-ri region into the Sea of Japan. The missiles are said to have covered a distance of approximately 1,000 kilometers (620 miles), with several landing as close as 300 kilometers (190 miles) from Japan's coast.

Kim Dongyeop, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University, suggested that the North fired Scud ER, also known as the Hwasong-7, or Rodong missiles. Both are derivatives of the R-17 Elbrus, a tactical ballistic missile initially developed by the Soviet Union in the late 1950s.

"The launch which took place on September 5, 2016, was meant to demonstrate accuracy of [North Korean] missiles since the three Scud-ERs fired that day landed in the same spot. This test has been apparently designed to demonstrate that [Pyongyang] is capable of dispersing missiles launched along a similar trajectory," the expert explained. "They could have also wanted to show that they are capable of targeting several US bases in Japan with a single launch."

Professor Kim further said that the launch could have been part of annual missile drills in North Korea.

Dr. Kwak Tae-Hwan, Professor Emeritus at Eastern Kentucky University and former president of the Korea Institute for National Unification, criticized South Korea's decision to use US-made Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) to protect the country from missile threats ostensibly emanating from Pyongyang, saying that the deployment will "further complicate" the peace process on the Korean Peninsula.
 
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