Health Malaysia Director General Noor Hisham Abdullah, right, speaks during a press conference at Kuala Lumpur Hospital in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017. Noor Hisham told reporters that the autopsy showed no evidence of a heart attack in Kim Jong Nam’s death, or sign of puncture wounds on his body. AP
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The women suspected of fatally poisoning a scion of North Korea’s ruling family were trained to coat their hands with toxic chemicals then wipe them on his face, police said Wednesday, announcing they were now seeking a top North Korean diplomat in connection with the attack.
Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar told reporters that authorities are searching for two new North Korean suspects, including the second secretary of North Korea’s embassy in Kuala Lumpur and an employee of North Korea’s state-owned airline Air Koryo.
“We hope that the Korean embassy will cooperate with us, allow us to interview them and interview them quickly,” he said. “If not, we will compel them to come to us.”
Khalid said the women knew they were handling poisonous materials during the attack, which occurred in a departure area of Kuala Lumpur’s budget airport, and had practiced the attack multiple times.
“We strongly believe it is a planned thing and that they have been trained to do that. This is not just like shooting a movie,” he told reporters.
READ: Women trained to seduce, kill in North Korea
Khalid couldn’t confirm whether North Korea’s government was behind the Feb. 13 death of Kim Jong Nam, the long-estranged half-brother of North Korea’s ruler, but added, “What is clear is that those involved are North Koreans.”
Police have already arrested four people in connection with the attack, including the two women. At least one of the women has claimed she was tricked into attacking Kim Jong Nam, believing she was taking part in a comedy prank TV show. One woman is Indonesian; the other is Vietnamese.
Police were already searching for five additional North Koreans in connection with the attack, though four are believed to have fled Kuala Lumpur shortly after the attack and are now believed to be back in Pyongyang.
Authorities believe those four provided the toxin. “That’s why we asked the North Korean Embassy to trace them and hand them over to us.” He said, though, that Malaysian authorities had received no help so far from North Korea.