MURDER MYSTERY

North Korean Arrested in Kim Jong Nam Probe

Likely to fuel claims that Kim Jong Un ordered his half-brother’s assassination.

A North Korean man has been arrested in Malaysia in connection with the killing of Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of Kim Jong Un. The brazen assassination took place on Monday at Kuala Lumpur’s airport, where two women attacked Kim in what they later said they believed was a television show prank, spraying him with harmful chemicals they thought was water. The two women reportedly led Malaysian police to 47-year-old Ri Jong Chol, identified as a North Korean citizen in his foreign worker’s identification card, Malaysian police said in a statement Saturday. Ri was reportedly arrested late Friday night at an apartment in Kuala Lumpur. His arrest will likely further fuel speculation that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un himself was behind the murder, a claim first made by South Korean authorities. Ri’s arrest came as Malaysian authorities said they would perform a second autopsy on Kim Jong Nam, a move that seems sure to anger North Korea, which objected to the first autopsy over claims Malaysia was working with South Korea.