Increased security at HKL mortuary

A North Korean embassy car seen outside the HKL mortuary late Wednesday

KUALA LUMPUR: Security has been stepped up at the mortuary at Hospital Kuala Lumpur to stop any unauthorised removal of the body of North Korean Kim Jong-nam.

Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was killed at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2) on Monday. His body was sent to HKL where a post-mortem was carried out.

It was earlier reported that North Korean embassy officials have not allowed the post-mortem to be carried out on Jong-nam's body.

Besides the usual auxiliary policemen stationed at the mortuary, more full-time policemen were seen around the mortuary, hours after the post-mortem was completed at about 7.30pm Wednesday.

Police vehicles were also seen entering and leaving the mortuary compound late into the night.

A North Korean embassy car was also seen parked outside the mortuary's entrance at 1.40am Thursday.

A policeman, who declined to be named, said they were required to be at the mortuary at all times to prevent the unauthorised removal of Jong-nam's body.

The policeman said the process of claiming the body would take time, as the deceased was "a person of interest."

Jong-nam, 45, was killed by two women who splashed his face with a chemical at the airport departure hall at about 9am Monday. He was about to leave for Macau.

The women later got into a taxi and fled.

Earlier Wednesday, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said police arrested one of the women when she returned to KLIA2 to catch a flight out on Wednesday.

The 29-year-old was carrying a Vietnamese passport with the name Doan Thi Huong.