Updated February 23, 2017 21:37:02

Photo: Kim Jong-nam — pictured here in 2001 — died on February 13. (AP: Shizuo Kambayashi, file photo)

North Korea has blamed Malaysia for the death of one of its citizens and has accused it of an "unfriendly attitude" in a scenario drawn up by South Korea, according to Pyongyang's state-run KCNA news agency.

The agency said South Korea accused Pyongyang agents of assassinating the North Korean leader's half-brother.

Officials and independent experts all say Kim Jong-nam's assassination looks like the work of North Korean agents.

Malaysia had initially told North Korea the person bearing a diplomatic passport had died after suffering a heart attack at Kuala Lumpur airport on February 13, KCNA news agency said.

KCNA, citing a spokesman for a state committee, said Malaysia quickly changed its position and started to complicate the matter after reports surfaced in South Korea the man was poisoned to death.

"What merits more serous attention is the fact that the unjust acts of the Malaysian side are timed to coincide with the anti-DPRK conspiratorial racket launched by the South Korean authorities," KCNA said, using the North's formal name of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

KCNA, in the first official media report of the killing, did not name Kim Jong-nam as the person who died on the way to the hospital or acknowledge he was the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, referring to him only as "a citizen of the DPRK".

"The biggest responsibility for his death rests with the Government of Malaysia, as the citizen of the DPRK died in its land," the report said.

On Wednesday, Malaysian police named a North Korean diplomat along with a state airline official who are wanted for questioning over the murder of Kim Jong-nam, the 46-year-old older half-brother of Kim Jong-un.

Malaysia's police chief, Khalid Abu Bakar, said both officials were in Malaysia but could not confirm if they were in the North Korean embassy.

So far, police have identified a total of eight North Koreans suspected of being linked to the killing. One is in custody.

Malaysia has asked the world's largest international police organisation, Interpol, to issue an alert for four of the North Korean suspects.

Inspector-General of Police, Khalid Abu Bakar, said North Korea should not blame his country for the murder.

The reported assassination of Kim Jong-nam is the latest episode in the long and bloody history of North Korea's Kim dynasty. These are the key players.

"Why should we be blamed? How can they blame us for the death of their national?" he said.

"It could happen to anybody, any national, so the same procedure will apply.

"The police will open up an investigation and we will carry out a fair and just investigation."

Malaysia has denied North Korea's request for the body to be handed over to its embassy directly, saying it would be released to the next of kin, although none had come forward.

The KCNA report accused Malaysia of breaking international law by conducting autopsies on a person bearing a diplomatic passport.

Reuters

Topics: world-politics, murder-and-manslaughter, crime, korea-democratic-people-s-republic-of, malaysia

First posted February 23, 2017 15:08:00