N Korea lashes Malaysia

North Korea's state media broke a 10-day silence yesterday on the murder of Kim Jong-Un's half brother, launching a ferocious assault on Malaysia for "immoral" handling of the case and for playing politics with the corpse.

In its first comments on the airport assassination of Kim Jong-Nam, KCNA said Malaysia bore responsibility for the death, and accused it of conspiring with South Korea.

"Malaysia is obliged to hand his body to the DPRK (North Korea) side as it made an autopsy and forensic examination of it in an illegal and immoral manner", the North's Korean Jurists Committee said, in comments carried by the state-run news agency.

Malaysia has not released the corpse "under the absurd pretext" that it needs a DNA sample from the dead man's family, it said.

"This proves that the Malaysian side is going to politicise the transfer of the body in utter disregard of international law and morality and thus attain a sinister purpose," it said.

Throughout its lengthy dispatch, KCNA avoided any reference to the dead man's identity, calling him only "a citizen of the DPRK bearing a diplomatic passport".

North Korea has never acknowledged him as the estranged brother of its leader.

Leaked CCTV footage from the brazen attack last Monday shows the portly Kim being approached by two women who appear to put something in his face.

Moments later he is seen asking for help from airport staff, who direct him to a clinic. Malaysian police said he suffered a seizure and died before he reached hospital.

Malaysian detectives are holding three people -- women from Indonesia and Vietnam, and a North Korean man -- but want to speak to seven others, including diplomat Hyon Kwang Song.

But Malaysia's top policeman yesterday acknowledged that unless Hyon, second secretary at the North Korean mission, volunteers himself, they will be unable to speak to him.

"We will adhere to the rules of immunity," Khalid Abu Bakar said. "We cannot go inside the embassy."