By Jun Ji-hye
North Korea denied its involvement in the death of Kim Jong-nam, Thursday, calling Seoul’s claims that Pyongyang was behind the incident a conspiracy against the North.
In its first official comment on the murder, North Korea also accused Malaysia of having infringed on its sovereignty and human rights, rebuffing the results of the Malaysian police’s investigation into the case.
Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was killed after being poisoned by two women as he was preparing to board a flight at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Feb. 13. At least eight North Korean nationals were involved in the assassination, according to Malaysian police.
The North, however, has called the case the death of “a citizen of the DPRK bearing a diplomatic passport” through its Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), without mentioning the name of Kim Jong-nam. It said the person “fell into a state of shock before boarding an airliner and died on the way to a hospital in Malaysia.”
Since the case broke out, the North has been claiming that the person who died was not Kim Jong-nam but a diplomat named Kim Chol.
The South Korean government said it is “certain” that the victim was Kim Jong-nam, considering video footage and the fact that he had used the alias of Kim Chol many times.
The KCNA said after the incident, Malaysia’s foreign ministry and the hospital “confirmed he had died of a heart stroke and decided to transfer his body to the embassy exercising its right to consular protection of DPRK citizens.”
After South Korean “conservative media” published reports that he was “poisoned to death by two women agents of the General Reconnaissance Bureau of North Korea,” the Malaysian police “recklessly made it an established fact,” the KCNA said.
It said Malaysia pushed for an autopsy of the body without any prior agreement with the North and its representatives.
“Moreover, the Malaysian side clamored for a second autopsy without publishing the results of the first autopsy,” the KCNA said, claiming “the unjust acts of the Malaysian side are timed to coincide with the anti-DPRK conspiratorial racket launched by the South Korean authorities.”
It claimed that South Korean authorities have shown “excessive responses” to the case and that they openly discussed the deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.
“This proves that the South Korean authorities have long expected the case since it worked out a scenario for it,” it said.
On the matter related to the transfer of the body, the isolated state claimed that the Malaysian side is going to politicize the issue for “sinister purposes.”
“It has not yet handed the body over under the absurd pretext that it cannot do so unless the family of the deceased presents a DNA sample in accordance with its law,” the KCNA said.
It added that the North has already proposed a joint investigation into the incident and clarified that it is ready to dispatch a delegation.
North Korean Ambassador to Malaysia Kang Chol earlier said in his press conference that Malaysian government had “something to conceal,” claiming that Malaysia was “colluding and playing to the gallery of external forces.”
In response, the Malaysian foreign ministry summoned him Monday and issued a statement saying its government views the criticism made by the ambassador as “baseless” and that it takes very seriously any unfounded attempt to tarnish its reputation.
The North’s continuous rebuttal is expected to further worsen the relations of the two countries that established diplomatic ties in 1973.