Anchor: It has been confirmed that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's estranged half brother Kim Jong-nam was killed in Malaysia on Monday. He has been critical of the third-generation power succession in North Korea and South Korean and Malay authorities are suspecting that the half brother was killed by North Korean agents.
Kim Bum-soo reports.

Report: Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of the North's late former leader Kim Jong-il, had been living outside the country since his younger brother rose to power in 2012. 

He was critical of the third-generation power succession in North Korea although recently he restrained from making public comments about his home country.

[Sound bite: Malaysian Police official (English)]
(Is the name Mr. Kim Jong-nam?)
"Yes, Yes... During the investigation process, I am sorry because I cannot explain you more. All this investigation is very classified."

As Malaysian authorities confirmed that Kim Jong-nam was killed on Monday at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, witnesses said that the murder suspects sprayed an unidentified substance on his face.

BBC quoted a Malaysian police official as saying that a woman covered his face with a cloth laced with a liquid. 

Initial reports said that Kim died after two women presumed to be North Korean agents shot him poisoned needles, and that the women fled from the scene.

Kim was seen using an automatic self check-in system to take a flight to Macao. When he collapsed in a shopping section of the airport, he wasn't yet cleared of immigration for the flight.

The police said he died of cardiac arrest before he arrived at the nearby Putrajaya Hospital on a stretcher.

The Malay police are pursuing the suspects, but declined to further elaborate. 

The local police, however, confirmed that the North Korean Embassy in Malaysia requested them to hand over Kim’s body before autopsy. An autopsy is being conducted on Kim’s body at an emergency ward at Putrajaya Hospital, apparently to find out the precise cause of death.

The suspects appeared to have followed Kim, who had stayed in Malaysia since Monday last week.

Born to the first wife of the former North Korean leader, the 45-year old had once been touted as the regime's next leader. 
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News. 

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