The only North Korean arrested over the assassination of Kim Jong-nam was released yesterday, with frustrated Malaysian police saying they believed he was involved in the plot, but lacked evidence to prove it.
Ri Jong-chol is among eight North Koreans suspected of involvement in the dramatic killing of Kim, the half-brother of the reclusive nation’s leader, who was poisoned with a banned nerve agent at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
Malaysia’s attorney general has announced there was insufficient evidence to charge 47-year-old Ri and that he would be deported yesterday.
As he was led out of a police station outside the capital under tight security and handed over to immigration authorities, Malaysian police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said he regretted the release.
“We believe that Ri Jong-chol played a part in Kim Chol’s murder, but unfortunately we lack evidence to charge him,” he told reporters, using the name given in the passport carried by Kim Jong-nam.
“We are frustrated because of a lack of evidence,” he said via text message from Saudi Arabia where he is on a religious pilgrimage.
A senior police official who asked not to be named told reporters that Ri had been handed over to immigration authorities in the administrative capital of Putrajaya.
“I do not know when he will be deported, as they will need to sort out the travel documents,” he said.
Ri’s release came two days after two women — one Vietnamese and one Indonesian — were charged with murdering Kim.
CCTV footage shows two women approaching the 45-year-old and apparently smearing his face with a cloth.
Police say Kim suffered a seizure and died less than 20 minutes later.
Swabs of the dead man’s face revealed traces of VX, a synthetic chemical so deadly that it is classed as a weapon of mass destruction.
Malaysia yesterday also stepped up its criticism of the use of the banned nerve agent, condemning “the use of such a chemical weapon by anyone, anywhere and under any circumstances.”
“Its use at a public place could have endangered the general public,” the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, adding that the Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was helping it investigate.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese