South Korean government sources are saying that the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been assassinated in Malaysia. The half-brother, Kim Jong Nam was allegedly poisoned by two women in the city’s airport. The women are believed to be North Korean agents but have so far been able to evade a police hunt.
Senior Malaysian police have confirmed that a North Korean man died in transit to hospital from the airport. They have not confirmed his identity.
Kim Jong Nam and Kim Jong Un are both sons of former leader Kim Jong Il, who died in late 2011, but they had different mothers.
Kim Jong-nam was once considered the heir apparent of his father, but fell out of favour in 2001 after being arrested at Tokyo’s Narita Airport after trying to enter Japan on a forged Dominican Republic passport.
He went into hiding in 2011, apparently out of fear that his half-brother saw him as a threat to the legitimacy of his own regime.