Jong-Nam's body has been preserved, says Zahid

KUALA LUMPUR: The body of North Korean citizen Kim Jong-Nam has been preserved through embalming said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Ahmad Zahid, who is also the Home Minister, said the embalming was done outside of the Kuala Lumpur Hospital, where the body has been kept since Jong-Nam was killed.
"It is true. It is an effort to preserve the body. If we keep in mortuary it might decompose.
"We did this to preserve the body ... it is done outside of the hospital," he told reporters at the parliament lobby today.
Jong-Nam, who is the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, was killed in an apparent poison attack on Feb 13 while waiting for his flight to Macau at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2.
A month since the murder, no family members of the deceased had come forward to claim the body.
Meanwhile, Ahmad Zahid said North Koreans currently in Sarawak whose visa had expired would be deported soon.
He added there are a total of 315 North Koreans in Malaysia now, with about 50 of them residing in Sarawak.

"Their overstaying has caused for them to be charged and they will be deported," Ahmad Zahid said, adding that those with valid visa would be allowed to stay.
He said the North Koreans whose visa had expired were now detained in a temporary detention depot in Sarawak.