Two large developments in the murder of Kim Jong-nam today. The first development is that the North Korean embassy has been linked to the murder:
Royal Malaysian Police chief Khalid Abu Bakar, left, addresses journalists in front of a screen displaying the details of the fifth North Korean suspect, Ri Ji-u, during a press conference at the Bukit Aman police headquarters in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday. Detectives probing the assassination of Kim Jong-nam, half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, want to question a North Korean diplomat, Malaysia’s top policeman said. [AP/YONHAP]A second secretary at the North Korean Embassy in Malaysia is the latest suspect sought in the assassination of Kim Jong-nam, Malaysian police said Wednesday, the strongest proof yet that the communist regime masterminded the plot to kill North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s half brother.
In their second press briefing since Kim Jong-nam was killed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on the morning of Feb. 13, police said they were searching for a 44-year-old North Korean diplomat named Hyon Kwang-song, who arrived in Malaysia on Sept. 20, 2016. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
It makes sense that any murder of Kim Jong-nam would have had assistance from the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia should seriously consider shutting the place down considering the criminal activity conducted there. The second major development is that Malaysian authorities believe the two women who committed the attack knew what they were doing:
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. (………)
The case has perplexed leading forensic toxicologists who study murder by poison. They say the airport attack is one of the most bizarre cases in the books, and question how the two women could walk away unscathed after deploying an agent potent enough to kill Kim Jong Nam before he could even make it to the hospital.
Khalid noted the two women “were warned to take precautions,” and said security camera footage showed them quickly walking to restrooms after the attack to wash their hands. [Associated Press]
Malaysian authorities have completely ruled out the attack being a prank:
“We’re ruling out the possibility that the women thought the attack was a prank or even that they believed they were shooting a television show,” Khalid Abu Bakar was quoted by The Star, a news outlet in Malaysia, as saying.
“The lady was moving away with her hands toward the bathroom,” said Khalid, according to The New Straits Times, another Malaysian newspaper. “She was very aware that it was toxic and that she needed to wash her hands.” [Joong Ang Ilbo]
The man in the video who arrived at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport does have a pretty good resemblance to Kim Jong-nam:
There is no sign of Kim Han-sol at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2) following speculation that he was on his way here.
As at 11pm Monday, reporters were seen leaving KLIA2 after failing to confirm the arrival of Han-sol, the son of the Kim Jong-nam who was killed last Monday.
However, there was a slight commotion when a man, whom media suspected of being Han-sol stepped out of the domestic arrival gate.
The man, who was wearing a cap, earphones and a black face mask, walked away before the gathered media were able to ask him any questions.
Earlier in the day, a message circulated among the media that the 22-year-old son of murdered Kim Jong-nam would be touching down at KLIA2 at around 7.30pm. [The Star]
Via a reader tip comes this news that North Korea is looking for English teachers willing to work for many years in the country, but there is a catch you can’t leave campus:
Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST), North Korea’s first privately funded university, is recruiting English teachers.
The school is receiving applications from candidates in dozens of countries, many of which are ironically non-English speaking countries such as South Korea, China and Japan.
Preference is given to candidates who have a long-term mindset and are open to staying at PUST for a number of years,” the university says in its recruiting message on www.heysuccess.com , a British recruiting website.
“English teachers are required to commit to an entire 15-week semester. The spring semester begins in early March and finishes in mid-June. The fall semester begins in early September and finishes in mid-December.”
Detailed working conditions such as salary and welfare are unknown.
The university says the ideal candidate will be an “energetic, responsible, and well-qualified professional teacher with relevant English teaching experience.” It It says an English teaching qualification (TEFL/ CELTA/ TESOL) is also highly preferred.
Successful applicants are supposed to have a campus-based lifestyle, meaning they may not be allowed to travel outside the campus. [Korea Times]
This sounds more like a jail sentence then an English teaching job.
Here is an interesting theory on why South Koreans hate the Japanese so much:
Korean school children draw anti-Japanese pictures to post at a subway station.
If South Korea can only weakly legitimate itself through democracy, and with race-nationalism so powerful, Seoul must go head-to-head with Pyongyang over who is the best custodian of the minjok and its glorious 5000 year history. This is a tussle South Korea cannot win, not only because of the North’s mendacious willingness to falsify history, but South Korea’s Westernized culture, massive U.S. presence, rising multiculturalism leading to mixed race citizens, and so on.
The North’s purer minjok nationalism will always have resonance in the South, where for a generation former dictator Park Chung Hee invoked race for legitimacy, 10% of the public voted for an openly pro-North Korean party in the last parliamentary election, and the main left-wing party has consistently equivocated on whether the U.S. represents a greater threat to South Korea than North Korea does.
Enter Japan, then, as a useful ‘other’ to South Korea, in the place that really should be held by North Korea. All Koreans, north and south, right and left, agree that the colonial take-over was bad. The morality of criticizing Japan is undisputed, whereas criticizing North Korea quickly gets tangled up in the ‘who-can-out-minjok-who’ issues raised above. [The National Interest]
I recommend reading the whole article at the link, but likewise the anti-Japanese hatred is irrational when compared to the Chinese as well. The Chinese are actively conducting anti-Korean initiatives because of the THAAD issue, have a territorial dispute with Korea, are the chief benefactor of North Korea, a country committed to the destruction of the ROK, and China was the last country to invade the ROK and nearly destroyed it during the Korean War. Heck the Chinese embassy even sent protestors into the streets of Seoul to beatdown Koreans during the Olympic torch protest.
Despite all of this, hatred is directed towards the Japanese who should be a natural geopolitical ally. I have always believed that the persistent anti-Japanese sentiment and rotating bouts of anti-US sentiment is because South Koreans know they can protest both countries without repercussions. As the current THAAD dispute shows the Chinese government does not sit idly by without retaliating against Korea, likewise for North Korea. If South Koreans push North Korea too much a ROK ship may get sunk or artillery rounds may land in the ROK. Protest Japan or the United States and little to nothing happens. That makes both countries easy targets to direct Korean nationalism towards especially for domestic political reasons.
I don’t expect this dynamic to change unless South Koreans are put into a position where they have to forgive and forget with Japan for national security reasons. As long as the US-ROK alliance this is something Koreans do not have to worry about.
The North Korean Embassy in Kuala Lumpur is filled with an air of silence on Feb. 16, 2017, following the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s half brother Kim Jong-nam. Kim was killed allegedly by North Korean agents at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Feb. 13. (Yonhap)
I have to wonder if this coal import ban from China has anything to do with the North Koreans murdering Kim Jong-nam who was under Chinese protection?:
Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, left, shakes hands with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Munich on Saturday. [YONHAP]China said it would suspend all imports of coal from North Korea for the rest of the year, putting it further in line with UN Security Council sanctions meant to curb Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile weapons program.
The Chinese Commerce Ministry said Saturday that the ban, which went into effect Sunday, would last through Dec. 31, which comes after Pyongyang’s universally condemned intermediate ballistic missile launch one week ago. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but the other thing to keep in mind is what China says and what it actually does in regards to sanctions against North Korea are two different things.
I figured that the real North Korean agents would have fled the country immediately after Kim Jong-nam was killed; they are all probably safely back in North Korea by now:
Noor Rashid speaking at a press conference at Bukit Aman on Sunday Read more at http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/02/19/jong-nam-murder-police-pc/#Ug6FBPgBF0GVvwCX.99
Malaysia’s police are looking for four more North Korean suspects who they say left the country the same day the North Korean leader’s brother died after being attacked at the Kuala Lumpur airport.
Deputy national police chief Noor Rashid Ibrahim identified all four at a news conference on Sunday. He also identified a fifth person of interest and showed photographs of two more North Koreans who were not identified by name but are also wanted in connection with Kim Jong Nam’s apparent assassination on Monday. [Stars & Stripes]
Here are the names of the four suspects, so if anyone happens to run in them please let Police Chief Ibrahim know:
Malaysian police officers escort Ri Jong-chol, second from left in the top photo, one of the North Korean suspects involved in the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s older half-brother Kim Jong-nam in Kuala Lumpur, Saturday. Other North Korean suspects are, from left in the bottom row, are Ri Jae-nam, Ri Ji-hyon, O Jong-gil and Hong Song-hac. / Yonhap
Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Noor Rashid Ibrahim said the suspects, all North Koreans, left the country on Monday Feb 13, the day of Jong-nam’s murder.
“We can confirm that the four left the country on the same day of the attack.
“We are cooperating with Interpol and other relevant bodies in the region,” he told a press conference in Bukit Aman on Sunday.
The press conference is the first that the police have conducted since Jong-nam was assassinated.
The four wanted suspects are:
1. Rhi Ji Hyon, 33, arrived in Malaysia Feb 4, 2017
Of interest is that according to The Star article the North Korean man that they did arrest has a background in chemistry which means they must think he is the guy that put the poison together. It seems like if he did why didn’t he leave the country with the other four agents?
Malaysian newspaper has published a picture it says shows the last moments of Kim Jong-nam’s life before the half brother of North Korean dictator died after apparently being poisoned.
The New Straits Times said the image of Kim Jong-nam slumped in a chair in Kuala Lumpur International Airport was one of the last images of him alive. [The Telegraph]
