KUALA LUMPUR (REUTERS/BERNAMA) - The autopsy results for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's estranged half-brother, who was murdered last week in Kuala Lumpur, could be released as early as Wednesday (Feb 22), Malaysia's health minister said on Monday.
"We are talking about the normal period of time to complete most postmortem and give results, so on this basis, yes," Health Minister Subramaniam Sathasivam told reporters in response to a question about when results would be released.
Malaysian authorities have given the victim Kim Jong Nam's next of kin two weeks to come forward to help in the investigation.
North Korean officials have sought to prevent Malaysia from carrying out an autopsy on the victim and demanded the body be handed over directly.
In the one week since the killing of Kim Jong Nam by two women at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2) last Monday, local and foreign reporters and photographers have continued to gather in front of the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Kuala Lumpur Hospital for news on the autopsy.
Kim Jong Nam was at the airport at 8am last Monday to board a flight to Macau an hour later when a woman suddenly covered his face with a cloth laced with what is believed to be poison.
He sought help at a customer service counter at the airport and was rushed to the Putrajaya Hospital but died on the way. He had come to Malaysia on Feb 6 and carried a passport bearing the name Kim Chol.
Police have so far arrested four people - two women, one bearing an Indonesian passport and the other a Vietnamese passport; a Malaysian and a North Korean - over the killing.
