Asia

Kim Jong-nam death suspect 'thought she was in TV prank'

  • 17 February 2017
  • From the section Asia
People watch a television showing news reports of Kim Jong-Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, at a railway station in Seoul o Image copyright AFP
Image caption Kim Jong-nam had been critical of the regime

An Indonesian woman held over the killing of Kim Jong-un's half-brother thought she was taking part in a TV prank, police say.

Kim Jong-nam is thought to have been poisoned as he waited to board a flight in Kuala Lumpur on Monday.

Two women and a man were arrested over the death.

Indonesia's national police chief said one of the women, named as Siti Aisyah, claimed to have been paid to perform what she thought was a prank.

Image copyright REX/Shutterstock
Image caption One suspect wore a shirt with "LOL" - "laugh out loud" - written on it

Police believe a poisonous substance was sprayed into Kim Jong-nam's face.

Tito Karnavian, Indonesia's most senior policeman, said the two women had already performed the prank on other men. It involved convincing the men to close their eyes before spraying them with water.

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"Such an action was done three or four times and they were given a few dollars for it, and with the last target, Kim Jong-nam, allegedly there were dangerous materials in the sprayer," Mr Karnavian told reporters.

"She was not aware that it was an assassination attempt by alleged foreign agents."

A grainy image broadcast in South Korea and Malaysia showed a woman running in the airport, wearing a white T-shirt with the letters "LOL" written on the front.

North Korea meanwhile has demanded that Malaysia immediately release the body of Kim Jong-nam.

The North Korean ambassador to Malaysia said his country had not consented to the post-mortem carried out on the dead man's body and would categorically reject its findings.

"We strongly urge and demand the Malaysian side not to be entangled with the political plot by the forces hostile to the DPRK [the Democratic People's Republic of Korea] who want to damage the image of our republic - and to release the body immediately without any condition," Ambassador Kang Chol said.

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