Police: Someone tried to break into the morgue where Kim Jong Nam's body is being held

A news report about the death of Kim Jong-nam.

(Image credit: Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Images)

published 22 February 2017

Malaysian police say there have been attempts to break into the morgue where the body of Kim Jong Nam, the estranged older half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, is being held.

Nine days ago, after he said a woman sprayed chemicals in his face at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Kim Jong Nam died from a seizure on his way to the hospital. Authorities investigating his death announced Tuesday they want to question a senior North Korean diplomat and a man linked to Air Koryo, the state airline in North Korea, and police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said it's "strongly believed" that four suspects left Malaysia on the day Kim died and fled to Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. He added that police know the identities of the attempted morgue raiders, but declined to name them.

Police have arrested four people in connection with Kim's death — a Vietnamese woman, a Malaysian man, a North Korean man, and an Indonesian woman who claimed she was tricked into participating in an attack against Kim. Khalid says this isn't true, and the suspects all practiced the operation in public spaces. The incident has strained ties between North Korea and Malaysia, one of just a few countries that has open relations with Pyongyang.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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