N. Korea wants joint probe with M'sia into Kim Jong-Nam's murder

KUALA LUMPUR: North Korea has proposed a joint investigation with Malaysia into the assassination of Kim Jong-Nam, saying that that it had lost faith with the way the authorities here were handling the investigation.
Its Ambassador to Malaysia, Kang Chol, said it wanted this to get a better clarification on the murder.
"If Malaysia agrees with our suggestion, we will despatch a lawyers' delegation to join the investigation with the Malaysian police," he said reading from a prepared text outside the embassy today.
Apart from demanding a joint investigation, Kang Chol repeated an earlier claim made on Saturday that Malaysia was colluding with South Korea to tarnish North Korea's reputation.
Kang Chol said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had made a false remark when he claimed the embassy had confirmed the deceased, Kim Chol, also held the identity of Kim Jong-Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.
"When they could not get the desired result for the post-mortem, Malaysia announced they would conduct a second one rather than hand over the result and the body to us," he said.
Kang Chol had referred to the deceased as Kim Chol throughout his statement.
Ahmad Zahid had, on Feb 16, said the North Korean killed at klia2 had carried dual identities, Jong-Nam and Kim Chol.
Kang Chol said Pyongyang could not trust the Malaysian police investigation after the latter identified the victim as Jong-Nam, saying it only increased its doubt that there could be someone else behind the investigation.
"It has been seven days since the incident, but there is no clear evidence on the cause of the death, and at the moment we cannot trust the investigation by the Malaysian police," he said.
He pointed how the police have yet to ascertain the cause of Jong-Nam's death and have not offered any criminal evidence on the suspects.
He also accused Malaysia of unlawfully requesting the presence of Jong-Nam's next-of-kin for DNA identification in an attempt to delay the release of his body.
Kang Chol demanded that North Korea be granted a meeting with the female suspects believed to have killed Jong-Nam, if it was true they had poisoned him.
"Was he truly murdered by the female suspects or were they fabricated suspects by the police to hide the true cause of death? We would like to hear from the directly to ensure who instructed them," he said.
Kang Chol said the police should also bear full responsibility for all the false rumours spread to the public to defame the image of North Korea.
"To date, we have been respecting the police and waiting with patience for the investigation result. On the contrary, they pinned the suspicion on us and targeted the investigation against us," he said.