Police say four DPRK suspects fled Malaysia after DPRK man's death

Malaysia's Deputy Inspector-General of Police Noor Rashid Ibrahim (L) speaks at a press conference held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Feb. 19, 2017. (Xinhua/Chong Voon Chung)

The Malaysian police said on Sunday that four suspects from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) related to the death of a DPRK man had fled the country.

A postmortem on the DPRK man had been conducted but the cause of death remained unknown as the police were waiting for the pathology and toxicology results, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Noor Rashid Ibrahim told a press conference.

The 46-year-old man, who was found dead on Monday at the Kuala Lumpur airport, is believed to be Kim Jong Nam, the elder half-brother of DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un.

But the deputy police chief said they still needed DNA samples from the next-of-kin of Kim to help identify the dead man.

Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had earlier confirmed that the dead man was Kim Jong Nam.

Kim's family members would be given a priority to claim the body, but so far no one had made such requests, Rashid added.

He said the police were seeking four more suspects from the DPRK, whom they believed had fled the country on the same day of the killing. Police were also seeking three men who might assist the investigation, including a DPRK male.

"Our job is to reveal the truth, to get facts and evidence, and bring the perpetrators to justice," he said.

The Malaysian police have arrested four suspects, the latest being a 47-year-old man from the DPRK, who worked as an IT engineer at a company in Kuala Lumpur.

It is yet to know the connection between him and two female suspects, one with Vietnamese travel document and the other an Indonesian, A Malaysian local male has also been detained to assist investigation.

The DPRK ambassador to Malaysia had said his country would "categorically reject the postmortem results," blaming Malaysia for delaying the release of the body and conducting the autopsy unilaterally.

In response to the allegations, Rashid said the police were following the Malaysian law and legal requirements.

"Every death in a suspicious manner must be investigated, which we have to put a report and submit a report to the court. In this case we are investigating a sudden and suspicious death," he said.