JAKARTA (BERNAMA, REUTERS) - Indonesia's Foreign Ministry on Thursday (Feb 16) confirmed that a female national had been arrested in Malaysia in connection with the killing of a North Korean in Kuala Lumpur.
Kim Jong Nam, the estranged older half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, was killed in an apparent assassination on Monday at Kuala Lumpur international airport in the Malaysian capital.
"Our embassy has verified the information received from Malaysian security authorities and based on preliminary data, the woman in question is an Indonesian citizen," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The Indonesian embassy has requested consular access to the woman to provide legal assistance, it added.
Malaysian police on Thursday (Feb 16) confirmed that it had arrested a 25-year-old woman who was carrying an Indonesian passport. The woman's passport identified her as Siti Aishah and said she is from Serang, located west of Java island.
According to Malaysian police, the woman was positively identified from the CCTV footage at the airport, where Kim was attacked, and that she was alone at the time of the arrest.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian police said on Thursday they will not interfere in the Malaysian criminal investigation. The Indonesian police public relations division chief Boy Rafli Amar said that Indonesia respected the legal process in Malaysia and would leave it to the authorities to conduct their investigation.
"We respect the process of law against our citizens in other countries," he was quoted by online media as saying to reporters.
Malaysian police earlier on Thursday said a local magistrate court had issued a seven-day remand order for the Indonesian woman as well as another Vietnamese suspect arrested on Wednesday. The Vietnamese suspect was also identified by police through CCTV footage from the airport.
South Korean lawmakers, citing the country's spy agency, have said it suspects that Kim was attacked by two female agents of North Korea at the Kuala Lumpur airport on Monday morning as he was readying to board a flight to Macau, where he had spent many years in exile.
