North Korean Leader’s Half-brother Murdered in Malaysia

The estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been murdered in Malaysia, a South Korean government source said on Tuesday.

Kim Jong Nam, the older half brother of Kim Jong Un, was known to spend a significant amount of his time outside North Korea and had spoken out publicly against his family’s dynastic control of the isolated state.

The South Korean government source who spoke to Reuters did not immediately provide further details. In Washington, A U.S. government source said the United States believed that North Korean agents were responsible for the murder, but did not provide firm evidence to support that conclusion.

There was no immediate response to a request for comment from the Trump administration, which is facing a stiff challenge from a defiant North Korea over its test of a ballistic missile last weekend.

In a statement, Malaysian police said the dead man, aged 46, held a passport under the name Kim Chol.

Kim Jong Nam has been caught in the past using forged travel documents.

Malaysian police official Fadzil Ahmat said the cause of Kim’s death was not yet known, and that a post mortem would be carried out.

“So far there are no suspects, but we have started investigations and are looking at a few possibilities to get leads,” Fadzil told Reuters.

According to Fadzil, Kim had been planning to travel to Macau on Monday when he fell ill at the low-cost terminal of Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).

“The deceased … felt like someone grabbed or held his face from behind,” Fadzil said. “He felt dizzy, so he asked for help at the … counter of KLIA.”

Kim was taken to an airport clinic where he still felt unwell, and it was decided to take him to hospital. He died in the ambulance on the way to Putrajaya Hospital, Fadzil added.

South Korea’s TV Chosun, a cable-TV network, reported that Kim had been poisoned with a needle by two women believed to be North Korean operatives who fled in a taxi and were at large, citing multiple South Korean government sources.

Reuters could not confirm those details.

South Korea’s foreign ministry said it could not confirm the reports, and the country’s intelligence agency could not immediately be reached for comment.

The U.S. government source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was possible that Kim Jong Nam had been poisoned. The U.S. source said it could not be ruled out that assassins used some kind of “poison pen” device.

A former U.S. official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said U.S. authorities had been closely following Kim Jong Nam for years and thought he was at risk but could not say whether North Korea was behind his murder.

When asked about the nature of the reported attack, Malaysian police official Fadzil said: “We don’t know if there was a cloth or needles; the receptionist said someone grabbed his face, he felt dizzy.”

Malaysia is one of a dwindling number of countries that has close relations with North Korea, which is under tightening global sanctions over its nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches, the latest of which took place on Sunday.

Kim Jong Nam and Kim Jong Un are both sons of former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, who died in late 2011, but they had different mothers.

Kim Jong Nam did not attend his father’s funeral.

The portly and easygoing Kim Jong Nam was believed to be close to his uncle, Jang Song Thaek, who was North Korea’s second most powerful man before being executed on Kim Jong Un’s orders in 2013.