KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Ten days after the assassination of Kim Jong-nam, the half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the news is still a focal point of national discussion here in Kuala Lumpur, the bustling cosmopolitan capital of Malaysia.

From the front pages of newspapers to talks on radio, “Kim Jong-nam” now strikes a chord, with people expressing a slight sense of insecurity and indignation at the brazen poison attack that took place in broad daylight at a busy airport, widely believed to have been ordered by the regime in Pyongyang.
 
“The incident was quite shocking, because it was a foreign conflict that had been perpetrated on our homeland,” said Nurul Nabillah Aamad Hijazu, a student at the University of Malaya. “It showed that people’s security cannot be guaranteed. The rustling thought of the assassination makes me feel edgy in places like the airport.”

For the thousands of local and foreign journalists and media personnel who have flocked to Kuala Lumpur, it has been a taxing week tracing the latest breaking stories. 

“All of us have been on standby for new developments on the issue over the past one week. We have rested very little,” said Farik Zolkepli, a staff reporter for the Star newspaper, over the telephone.

“It is big news here because of the victim’s high profile as the half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and also because it was an assassination of a foreigner on our home soil. The focus of the world is on us at the moment.”

Police have so far arrested four suspects carrying identity documents from North Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam. It said four others, all believed to be North Korean nationals, have fled the country.

Zolkepli said the reporters are taking a “wait-and-see” approach, carefully judging how events unfold.

“In the end the police will get to the truth of the matter so that there is no room for speculations,” the journalist said. “The investigation will take shape following the postmortem and toxicology results from the autopsy, which will shed more light on the issue.”

At the General Hospital of Kuala Lumpur, a big crowd of journalists have been waiting anxiously for press briefings on Kim Jong-nam’s autopsy, which was conducted on Feb. 15 but offered little concrete details about his death. 

On Tuesday, officials from the Ministry of Health Malaysia told reporters that medicolegal specimens from the victim’s body were sent to accredited laboratories for further analyses “to confirm the identity of the deceased person and the cause of death, both of which are still pending at the moment.”

The attack spiraled into a diplomatic row when Malaysia rejected North Korea’s request to hand over Kim Jong-nam’s body. Since then, the two countries have exchanged a war of words, prompting many in Kuala Lumpur to rethink the country’s ties with the reclusive communist state ruled by a ruthless young tyrant.

At the University of Malaya campus, Korean exchange student Kim Min-sung said his Malaysian friends were chagrined by the charade of Pyongyang, as North Korean Ambassador to Malaysia Kang Chol denounced the country’s handling of the investigation and alleged there was “collusion” with Pyongyang’s enemies. 

“My friends who are interested in politics told me that they cannot understand North Korea,” Kim said. “Malaysia is one of the few nations with diplomatic relations with the North. But the ties are strained greatly at the moment. I heard through word of mouth some events at the university related to North Korean National Days have been canceled or postponed.”

Malaysia has traditionally pursued a diplomacy of neutrality, but with North Korea that might change because of this incident, local student Suhazlin Mohamad Maswari said.

“By not taking sides, Malaysia had managed to keep good relations even with countries like North Korea,” she said. “We could be perceived as slow in handling international issues, but that is because we want to do things thoroughly.”

By Joel Lee (joel@heraldcorp.com)