Malaysia calls North Korea conspiracy claims 'delusional'

Armed guards stood outside the morgue where Kim Jong Nam's body was being held on Tuesday, as officials denied reports that a family member had come to claim the corpse of the half brother of North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un.

Media reports had earlier suggested that the dead man's son Kim Han Sol was expected to arrive in Malaysia on Tuesday, but so far no one had been able to confirm his presence in the country.

"We're still waiting for next of kin to report to us," said Malaysian Director General of Health Noor Hisham Abdullah.

Kim was killed one week ago, after being sprayed in the face with an unidentified chemical at a Kuala Lumpur airport.

Officers arrested a 28-year-old Vietnamese woman, a 25-year-old Indonesian woman and two other suspects over the death, though it later emerged that the two women may have been tricked into thinking they were merely playing a prank on Kim. One of the women was wearing a shirt with the acronym "LOL" ("laugh out loud") on the front.

Immediately following the incident, Kim reported feeling unwell to airport staff. He suffered a seizure and died en route to a local hospital.

Pyongyang alleges Malaysia-South Korea conspiracy

The autopsy determining the exact cause of death was still pending on Tuesday, prompting North Korean ambassador Kang Chol to say that his government "cannot trust" Malaysia to carry out the investigation. He then accused Kuala Lumpur of conspiring with Seoul to assassinate their leader's brother.

South Korean intelligence accused Pyongyang of ordering a hit on Kim, having failed to assassinate him once in 2012.

"The statement by the ambassador was totally uncalled for. It was diplomatically rude. But Malaysia will stand firm," said Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. Foreign Minister Anifah Aman added that Chol's accusations were nothing but "delusions, lies and half-truths."

Forty-six-year-old Kim Jong Nam was long considered to be the heir apparent to his father, Kim Jong Il, as the late dictator's eldest son. However, he fell out of favor following a highly embarrassing incident in 2001 in which he attempted to travel to Japan on a fake passport in the hopes of visiting Disneyland Tokyo.

He had lived in exile in Macau for at leat six years, and he was meant to be traveling back home when he was attacked at the airport.

es/se (AFP, dpa, Reuters)