Kim 'loved KL nightlife, had S'pore girlfriend'

Kim 'loved KL nightlife, had S'pore girlfriend'

KUALA LUMPUR Malaysian police have detained two more suspects in connection with the assassination of Mr Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Monday.

One of them is a woman identified from closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage at the airport and the other is a Malaysian man, identified as Muhammad Farid Jalaluddin, who is said to be her boyfriend.

The female suspect has been named as Siti Aishah, an Indonesian national. Indonesia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that she is a citizen and is requesting consular access, CNN reported.

Police said the Malaysian man, a car driver who was picked up on Wednesday, had provided information that led to her arrest yesterday morning, reported Malaysian newspaper The Star.

State-run Bernama news agency reported that Siti had been remanded in custody for seven days along with another woman who was caught at the airport on Wednesday.

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A Malaysian government source told Reuters that the first suspect is the woman whose image was captured on CCTV wearing a white shirt with the letters "LOL" on the front.

She had a Vietnamese travel document in the name of Doan Thi Huong, but the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not confirm whether she is a Vietnamese citizen when asked by CNN.

Meanwhile, the South Korean owner of a Kuala Lumpur restaurant frequented by Mr Kim told The Star: "He feared being assassinated, hence he always travelled with bodyguards."

He said Mr Kim would stay at five-star hotels whenever he was in town.

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"Sometimes, he would bring his wife here," he said, adding that Mr Kim had also brought his Singaporean girlfriend to Malay­­sia.

Another source told The Star that Mr Kim was fond of the nightlife in KL, in particular the pubs in Bukit Damansara and the club scene in Bukit Bin­tang.

Many key details about the murder of Mr Kim, who was once his father's heir apparent, are still unclear, but South Korea's spy agency and US government sources have said North Korea was behind the attack.

He was apparently killed with a fast-acting poison while waiting to board a flight to his home in Macau on Monday morning.

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OVER IN FIVE SECONDS

The attack on Mr Kim, who suddenly fell ill at the airport and died on the way to hospital, was over in five seconds, Malaysian newspaper New Strait Times reported yesterday.

Malaysian police are also looking for four foreign men believed to have worked with the two women, reported Reuters, quoting the government source.

The first suspect told police that the group split up after the incident and had not seen each other since.

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She said she had not been aware that she was killing someone, but the source said police doubt that and believe it was a well-planned operation.

An autopsy was completed late on Wednesday, but the results have not been released.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said he believed the police had received a request from North Korean officials for the body, and said it could be eventually released to next of kin through the North Korean embassy.

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This article was first published on Feb 17, 2017.
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