A POLICE witness has said the estranged half-brother of North Korea’s leader met an unidentified Korean American man on a Malaysian resort island four days before he was murdered.
The claim was made as the trial of two women accused of killing Kim Jong Nam resumed.
Indonesia’s Siti Aisyah, 25, and Vietnam’s Doan Thi Huong, 29, are accused of smearing VX nerve agent on Kim’s face in a crowded airport terminal in Kuala Lumpur last February.
They denied murder when their trial began in Shah Alam on October 2. The two are the only suspects in custody, though prosecutors have said four North Koreans who fled the country were also involved.
Chief police investigating officer Wan Azirul Nizam Che Wan Aziz yesterday told the court that Kim flew from Macau to Kuala Lumpur last February 6 and travelled to the northern island of Langkawi two days later.
He said Kim met with a Korean American at a Langkawi hotel the next day, but he did not know the man’s identity and it was not related to the $138,000 (£97,400) in cash found in Kim’s backpack when he was murdered.
Wah Azirul was responding to questions from Aisyah’s lawyer, who asked him to confirm a report by the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun that, in Langkawi, Kim met a US intelligence agent who was normally based in Bangkok.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here