Kim Jong-nam: arrests over airport poisoning

Two more suspects have been arrested in connection
 with the death of Kim Jong-nam, the brother of North
 Korean leader Kim Jong-un, in Malaysia.

A female Indonesian suspect and a Malaysian man
 thought to be her boyfriend were both detained on 
Thursday.

A woman travelling on a Vietnamese passport has also 
been detained.

Kim died on Monday after apparently being poisoned
 while waiting to board a flight in Kuala Lumpur.

Police say they have now finished their post-mortem examination, though the results have not yet been made public.

The two female suspects have been remanded in custody
 for seven days.

The inspector general of the Royal Malaysia police, Sri 
Khalid Bin Abu Bakar, said the second woman was
 detained on Thursday over the death of "a Korean male".

She was identified from airport CCTV footage and had 
an Indonesian passport.

Malaysian Deputy PM Ahmad Zahid Hamidi formally confirmed on Thursday that the dead man, who was 
travelling under the name Kim Chol, was Kim Jong-nam, according to state news agency Bernama.

There is widespread speculation that North Korea was
 behind the killing, but there has been no proof.

North Korea is on Thursday celebrating what would have 
been the 75th birthday of Kim Jong-il, the late leader and father of both Kim Jong-nam and Kim Jong-un.

Kim Jong-un was seen attending a ruling party meeting 
on Wednesday . Footage aired on state media showed
 him grim- faced, reported South Korea's Yonhap news agency, and he did not wave when he left, as is customary.

Malaysia 'will return body'

Selangor Police Chief Abdul Samah Mat told the media the
examination of Kim's body was completed on Wednesday
evening, but there has been no indication of whether the results will be made public.

The deputy prime minister said Malaysia would grant a request from North Korea for the body to be returned once police and medical procedures were completed.

Kim is believed to have been attacked in the airport 
departure hall by two women, using some form of chemical.

A grainy image taken from security camera footage,
 which has been broadcast in South Korea and Malaysia, shows a woman wearing a white T-shirt with the letters "LOL" written on the front.

It is not clear whether either is the woman in the footage, 
and police say they are still looking for "a few" other suspects.

Malaysia police said the woman arrested on Thursday 
was identified in her passport as Siti Aishah, 25, from
 Banten province in Indonesia.

The suspect arrested on Wednesday had Vietnamese 
travel documents bearing the name Doan Thi Huong, 28.


An alleged assassination attempt, a grainy shot of a
 woman wearing a T-shirt with "LOL" written on it, and 
a dead body that has yet to yield any information.

It has all the makings of a murder mystery, with more questions than answers.

Who is the Vietnamese woman the Malaysian police say they've arrested, and what does she have to do with the 
case?

How is it possible that in a crowded airport, in broad 
daylight, a man can be accosted with some kind of 
toxic substance, and no trace of it is left behind at the
 crime scene?

People I spoke to at the airport who may have seen 
what happened were reluctant to talk about it, and at least
 two of them told me that they had been instructed not
 to talk by police. Then there's the investigation, which also appears to lack focus.

All Malaysian police officials will tell us is that once they 
have the results of the post-mortem they will be able to identify what really happened to the man believed to be Kim Jong-nam.

Kim Jong-nam was largely estranged from his family, 
after being bypassed for inheriting the leadership in
 favour of his youngest half-brother. He spent most of 
his time overseas in Macau, mainland China and Singapore.

He had spoken out in the past against his family's 
dynastic control of North Korea and in a 2012 book 
was quoted as sayi he believed his younger half-brother lacked leadership qualities.

But he had said he was not interested in assuming the leadership himself.

Unnamed US government sources have said they
 believe he was poisoned by North Korean agents.

South Korean spy chief Lee Byung-ho told South 
Korean MPs that Pyongyang had wanted to kill Kim 
Jong-nam for several years, but that he was being 
protected by China.

The secretive state has a long history of sending agents overseas to carry out assassinations, attacks and kidnappings.

But some analysts question what motive Kim Jong-un 
would have to kill his estranged half-brother, given the risk
 of the operation and possibilities for embarrassment, added to the fact that he was not seen as a threat to Mr Kim's leadership.

Still, Kim was reportedly targeted for assassination in 
the past. A North Korean spy jailed by South Korea in 
2012 is said to have admitted trying to organise a hit-and-run accident targeting him.