SEOUL/KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian police on Wednesday detained a woman holding Vietnam travel papers and are looking for a “few” other foreign suspects in connection with the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s estranged half-brother, police said.
Lawmakers in South Korea had earlier cited their spy agency as saying it suspected two female North Korean agents had murdered Kim Jong Nam, and US government sources also told Reuters they believed North Korean assassins were responsible.
The portly and gregarious Kim Jong Nam, the eldest son of late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, was assaulted on Monday morning in the departure hall of Kuala Lumpur International Airport and died on the way to hospital, Malaysian police said.
The woman detained at Kuala Lumpur airport was identified from CCTV footage at the airport and was alone when she was apprehended, police said in a statement.
Media had earlier published a grainy CCTV-captured image of a young woman wearing a white shirt with the letters “LOL” on the front.
Documents she carried were in the name of Doan Thi Huong, showed a birth date of May 1998 and birthplace of Nam Dinh, Vietnam, police said.
“Police are looking for a few others, all foreigners,” Deputy Inspector-General Noor Rashid Ibrahim told Reuters, declining to give their nationalities or gender.
South Korean intelligence believes Kim Jong Nam was poisoned, the lawmakers in South Korea’s capital, Seoul, said.
The spy agency told them that the young and unpredictable North Korean leader had issued a “standing order” for his half-brother’s assassination, and that there had been a failed attempt in 2012.
“The cause of death is strongly suspected to be a poisoning attack,” said South Korean lawmaker Kim Byung-kee, who was briefed by the spy agency.
Kim had been at the airport’s budget terminal to catch a flight to Macau on Monday when someone grabbed or held his face from behind, after which he felt dizzy and sought help at an information desk, Malaysian police official Fadzil Ahmat said.
According to South Korea’s spy agency, Kim Jong Nam had been living, under Beijing’s protection, with his second wife in the Chinese territory of Macau, the lawmakers said. One of them said Kim Jong Nam also had a wife and son in Beijing.
Kim had spoken out publicly against his family’s dynastic control of the isolated state.
“If the murder of Kim Jong Nam was confirmed to be committed by the North Korean regime, that would clearly depict the brutality and inhumanity of the Kim Jong Un regime,” South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, who is also acting president, told a security meeting.
The meeting was called in response to Kim Jong Nam’s death, news of which first emerged late on Tuesday.
‘Sense of danger’
South Korea is acutely sensitive to any sign of instability in isolated North Korea, and is still technically in a state of war with its impoverished and nuclear-armed neighbor, which carried out its latest ballistic missile test on Sunday.
Malaysian police said Kim held a passport under the name Kim Chol, with a birth date that made him 46.
Kim Jong Nam was known to spend a significant amount of time outside North Korea, traveling in Macau and Hong Kong as well as mainland China, and has been caught in the past using forged travel documents.
His body was taken on Wednesday to a second hospital, where an autopsy was being performed. North Korean embassy officials had arrived at the hospital and were coordinating with authorities, police sources said.
There was no mention of Kim Jong Nam’s death in North Korean media.
In Beijing, a foreign ministry spokesman said China was aware of the reports and closely following developments.
Yoji Gomi, a Japanese journalist who wrote a 2012 book on Kim Jong Nam, said Kim’s media appearances, which increased around the time South Korean intelligence said he was targeted for assassination, may have been an attempt to protect himself.
“I now have the impression that even he may have had a sense of danger, so he began exposing himself in the media and stating his opinions to protect himself and counter North Korea,” Gomi told a talk show on Japan’s NTV.
North Korean agents have killed rivals abroad before.
South Korea’s spy agency said Kim Jong Nam wrote a letter to Kim Jong Un in 2012 asking that the lives of him and his family be spared, one of the lawmakers said.
“Kim Jong Un may have been worried about more and more North Korean elites turning against him after Thae Yong Ho defected to the South,” said Koh Yu-hwan, an expert on the North Korean leadership at Dongguk University in Seoul, referring to last year’s defection by North Korea’s deputy ambassador in London.
Numerous North Korean officials have been purged or killed since Kim Jong Un took power following his father’s death in 2011. Those include his uncle Jang Song Thaek, who was considered the country’s second most-powerful person and was believed to have been close to Kim Jong Nam.
Jang was executed on Kim Jong Un’s orders in 2013.
Malaysia detains woman, seeking others in connection with N.Korean murder
Malaysia detains woman, seeking others in connection with N.Korean murder
Greece records hottest June in over six decades: researchers
ATHENS: Greece recorded in 2024 its hottest June since 1960, the director of the Athens national observatory told AFP on Tuesday.
“The month of June 2024 was characterised by long periods of elevated temperatures over several days, largely surpassing normal seasonal temperatures throughout the country,” Kostas Lagouvardos said.
China hits back at NATO’s ‘smears and attacks’ ahead of summit
- China’s foreign ministry takes aim at the defense group, which was founded in 1949 to provide collective security against the Soviet Union
BEIJING: China lashed out at NATO’s “smears and attacks” on Tuesday after the defense alliance’s chief accused it of supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine on the eve of a summit in Washington.
US President Joe Biden is hosting leaders of the 32-nation transatlantic alliance for three days from Tuesday, as well as the leaders of Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference ahead of the 75th anniversary summit that their inclusion “demonstrates that our security is not regional, our security is global.”
“And that’s clearly demonstrated in the war in Ukraine where Iran, North Korea, China are supporting and enabling Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said on Monday, according to a NATO transcript.
China’s foreign ministry took aim at the defense group, which was founded in 1949 to provide collective security against the Soviet Union.
“NATO’s so-called security is at the expense of other countries’ security and its actions have brought extremely high security risks to the world and the region,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a regular news conference in Beijing.
“China is firmly opposed to NATO’s smears and attacks on China, to its willingness to shift the blame onto others, as well as NATO’s use of China as an excuse to move eastward into the Asia-Pacific and stir up regional tensions,” he said.
NATO’s leaders are gathering in Washington in the shadow of setbacks in Ukraine and electoral headwinds on both sides of the Atlantic.
Biden is fighting for his political life after a disastrous debate against his Republican presidential rival, NATO skeptic Donald Trump.
The star of the summit is set to be Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is looking for firm signs of support even though NATO will not be extending his country an invitation to join the bloc.
UN chief meets Pakistan’s premier to discuss the situation of Afghan refugees following clampdown
- Pakistan PM asked for help from UNHCR to repatriate the refugees in “a safe and dignified” manner
ISLAMABAD: The head of the UN refugee agency met the Pakistani prime minister Tuesday to discuss the situation of Afghan refugees living in uncertainty since Islamabad began a persistent anti-migrant crackdown last year.
Pakistan has long hosted an estimated 1.7 million Afghans, most of whom fled during the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation. More than half a million others escaped Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover in 2021, with thousands waiting in Pakistan for resettlement in the United States and elsewhere. Since the widely criticized clampdown started in November, an estimated 600,000 Afghans have returned home.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, who arrived in Pakistan on Sunday, spent two days meeting Afghan refugees. He posted on social media platform X: “I spent time with Afghan refugees whose resourcefulness is testimony to their strength — and to Pakistan’s long hospitality.” Grandi added that his visit aimed to “discuss how we can best support both amidst growing challenges.”
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shabaz Sharif told the UN refugee agency head that Afghan refugees were treated with “exemplary respect and dignity” despite facing multiple challenges, according to a statement released by his office Tuesday. Sharif also urged the international community to “recognize the burden being shouldered by Pakistan while hosting such a large refugee population and demonstrate collective responsibility.”
The prime minister also asked for help from UNHCR to repatriate the refugees in “a safe and dignified” manner.
Also on Tuesday, Grandi met with Asif Durrani, the country’s special representative for Afghanistan. Durrani wrote on X that the two sides “expressed readiness to find a durable solution to the Afghan refugee problem, including their repatriation”.
Since the crackdown, the neighboring Taliban-led government said it set up a commission to deal with repatriated nationals and has criticized Islamabad’s actions.
Pakistan has also faced a surge in militant attacks on security forces and civilians alike, mostly blamed on Pakistani Taliban — a separate militant group but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban— straining the ties between the two countries.
India suspends six police, government officials for stampede that killed 121
- One of India’s worst stampedes in recent years took place after about a quarter of a million people flocked to listen to a self-styled guru
- Preliminary findings of a panel investigating the incident held the event organizers responsible, saying they failed to meet conditions set for the gathering
LUCKNOW, India: Indian authorities have suspended six police and government officials after a stampede that killed 121 people last week, accusing them of “negligence” in handling the event featuring a Hindu preacher.
One of India’s worst stampedes in recent years took place after about a quarter of a million people flocked to listen to a self-styled guru, far in excess of the number of 80,000 authorities had permitted.
Tuesday’s preliminary findings of a panel investigating the incident held the event organizers responsible, saying they failed to meet conditions set for the gathering.
“The organizers obtained permission for the event by concealing facts,” the government of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh said in a statement, citing the findings of the panel it set up to look into the matter.
“They did not make adequate and smooth arrangements despite inviting an unexpected crowd, nor did they comply with the conditions set by the local administration.”
In response, A.P. Singh, a lawyer for the preacher, denied wrongdoing by organizers, saying they did not conceal anything from authorities, adding instead that the stampede was part of a conspiracy by “anti-social elements” whom he did not identify.
Police have arrested nine people involved in organizing the event, Singh said.
The government said the panel had not ruled out “the possibility of a major conspiracy behind the accident,” but it needed further investigation.
A senior district official in Hathras, the site of the incident, gave permission for the event without inspecting the venue, the state government added.
Local government and police officials did not take the event seriously and did not inform senior officials about it, the government said in its statement.
“They have been held responsible for negligence in performing their duties,” it added.
The crush happened when devotees ran after the preacher’s departing car, trampling over one another to seek his blessings and get a closer look at him.
UN: Taliban’s morality police contributing to a climate of fear among Afghans
- Taliban set up a ministry for the ‘propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice’ after seizing power in 2021
- Ministry’s role expanding into other areas of public life, including media monitoring and eradicating drug addiction
The Taliban’s morality police are contributing to a climate of fear and intimidation among Afghans, according to a UN report published Tuesday. Edicts and some of the methods used to enforce them constituted a violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms, the report said.
The Taliban set up a ministry for the “propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice” after seizing power in 2021.
Since then, the ministry has enforced decrees issued by the Taliban leadership that have a disproportionate impact on women and girls, like dress codes, segregated education and employment, and having a male guardian when they travel.
“The punishments attached to non-compliance with instructions and decrees are often arbitrary, severe and disproportionate,” said the report from the UN Mission in Afghanistan. “Sweeping bans with a discriminatory effect on women have been introduced. Human rights violations, as well as the unpredictability of enforcement measures, contribute to a climate of fear and intimidation among segments of the population.”
The mission said it documented at least 1,033 instances between August 2021 and March 2024 where ministry employees applied force during the implementation of orders, resulting in the violation of a person’s liberty, and physical and mental integrity.
“This includes the use of threats, arbitrary arrests and detentions, excessive use of force by de facto law enforcement officials and ill-treatment.” These instances mostly affected men, who were punished for allegedly violating Taliban orders or because their female relatives had breached them, according to the report.
It said the ministry’s role was expanding into other areas of public life, including media monitoring and eradicating drug addiction.
“Given the multiple issues outlined in the report, the position expressed by the de facto authorities that this oversight will be increasing and expanding gives cause for significant concern for all Afghans, especially women and girls,” said Fiona Frazer, the head of UNAMA’s Human Rights Service.
The ministry rejected the UN report, calling its findings false and contradictory.
“Decrees and relevant legal documents are issued to reform society and should have their implementation ensured,” the ministry said.
The mission’s report comes a week after a Taliban delegation traveled to Qatar to attend a UN-sponsored meeting on increasing engagement with Afghanistan amid the country’s economic challenges and humanitarian crises.
That meeting sparked anger from rights groups and activists because it excluded Afghan women and civil society.
