Indonesian Woman Arrested in Connection With Murder of Kim Jong Nam
Jakarta. Malaysian police detained a second woman on Thursday (16/02) suspected of involvement in the apparent assassination of the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
State-run Bernama news agency reported that she has been remanded in custody for seven days along with a woman who was caught at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Wednesday, two days after Kim Jong Nam was assaulted there with what was believed to be a fast acting poison.
Police said the latest arrest was made at 2 a.m. on Thursday, or at 1 a.m. Western Indonesian Time, and the woman was carrying an Indonesian passport, unlike the first suspect who held Vietnamese travel papers.
The woman arrested in the early hours of Thursday was alone when she was apprehended, a police statement said. Her Indonesian passport bore the name Siti Aishah, and gave her date of birth as Feb. 11, 1992, and place of birth as Serang, Indonesia. The statement gave no other details.
The Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur also verified that the suspect is an Indonesian citizen.
“The embassy will continue to coordinate with the Malaysian police in this matter,” the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
The ministry added that the embassy will assist the suspect throughout the investigation and embassy staff have already visited the suspect who has been detained in Selangor.
A Malaysian government source confirmed to Reuters that the first suspect detained was the same woman whose image was captured by closed-circuit television footage showing her wearing a white shirt with the letters "LOL" on the front.
Her travel documents were in the name of Doan Thi Huong, showed a birth date of May 1988 and birthplace of Nam Dinh, Vietnam.
North Korea has made no public reference to Kim Jong Nam's death, and calls to the embassy in Malaysia were unanswered.
But a source in Beijing with ties to both the North Korean and Chinese governments told Reuters that North Korea was not involved in his killing, and had no motive.
"Kim Jong Nam has nothing to do with [North] Korea," the source said. "There is no reason for [North] Korea to kill him."
"[North] Korea is investigating," the source said when asked why there has been no publicly denied involvement, adding that North Korea wanted the body returned.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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