The minister of tourism and culture said Kang Chol had to put up a show of attacking Malaysia, or risk being put on the chopping block himself.
“He must show he is extra angry. If he does not do that, he will get killed. Ini semua orang tahu. (Everybody knows this.)
“… or else when he returns to the North, he will ‘kena’ (suffer the consequences).
“If he does not ‘kena’, his family will ‘kena’,” Nazri told reporters after opening the Chinese New Year celebrations by his ministry outside the Town Hall here Friday night.
Kang had recently accused Malaysia of working with the enemies of North Korea in the assassination of Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of their supreme leader Kim Jong Un.
Jong Nam was killed at the KL International Airport 2 (klia2) on Feb 13 while waiting to board a flight to Macau when he was attacked by two women. One sprayed a rapid-acting poison at him, believed to have traces of the VX nerve agent, while the other covered his face with a piece of cloth.
Jong Nam’s body is being held at the KL Hospital pending positive identification.
Kang first raised eyebrows when he demanded that the body be repatriated without a post-mortem.
After Malaysia’s authorities declined his request, Kang said Malaysia had “concealed” something in the investigation. He also criticised the actions of Malaysia’s Foreign Ministry and police.
The republic’s state media meanwhile slammed Malaysian forensic authorities for carrying out an “illegal and immoral” autopsy on the victim, who North Korea has yet to formally identify as Jong Nam.
Stay current - Follow FMT on WhatsApp, Google news and Telegram