Malaysia will send the deceased half-brother to leader Kim Jong-un to North Korea

Kim Jong Nam, left, exiled half-brother of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, in Narita, Japan, on May 4, 2001, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on May 9, 2016, in Pyongyang, North Korea. Kim Jong Nam, 46, was targeted Monday, Feb. 13, 2017, in a shopping concourse at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia, and died on the way to the hospital, according to a Malaysian government official. (AP Photos/Shizuo Kambayashi, Wong Maye-E, File)

Malaysia will fulfil North Korea’s desire to be handed the remains of the slain half brother to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

The 46 year old, Kim Jong-nam, died after what is thought to be a poison attack at the airport in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.

He was sent for autopsy at a hospital in Malaysia, but North Korea has asked that the body be handed over to the home country.

Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, confirmed on Thursday that North Koreas request will be honoured.

‘But there are procedures that must be followed. Our recommendation is that we need to respect our bilateral relations to any foreign country’, he said.

The relationship between the Malaysian government and Pyongyang is regarded as good, and in 2009, the first Malaysians travelled to North Korea
without a visa.

The autopsy, according to health workers, has been carried out, but it is not known if the autopsy report, and cause of death, will be made public.

Kim Jong-Un’s older half-brother had lived for several years in exile in China, and South Korea has accused North Korea of being behind the assassination.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today