The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Thursday said the saga of the death of a DPRK national in Malaysia last week was an "anti-DPRK conspiratorial racket" launched by South Korea.
The DPRK also blamed the Malaysian side for an unfriendly attitude in handling the case, the official KCNA news agency reported.
A 46-year-old man from the DPRK died on Feb. 13 at a Kuala Lumpur airport. Malaysian police identified him as Kim Chol from the DPRK. Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said embassy documents showed the man was Kim Jong Nam, a half-brother of DPRK top leader Kim Jong Un. But the claim was denied by the DPRK ambassador in Malaysia, Kang Chol.
Malaysian police also said that the victim was poisoned to death at Kuala Lumpur's international airport as he was waiting for a flight to Macao, China.
However, the KCNA news agency said the man died of "heart stroke" and that South Korean authorities published a false report of him being poisoned to death, which Malaysian police turned into an "established fact."
Though Malaysian police have completed postmortem on the dead body, they said they will not release the body to the DPRK Embassy until they have received DNA samples from the next-of-kin of the dead man.
Up till now, no next-of-kin has showed up, according to Malaysian officials.
Kang, the ambassador, has said that his country will "categorically reject" the results of the postmortem conducted by Malaysia and demanded an immediate transfer of the body.
A spokesman for the Korean Jurists Committee said the autopsy was unnecessary, and criticized the Malaysian side for conducting it without any prior agreement with the DPRK or the presence of a DPRK representative, in disregard of the just demand from the DPRK and international law, the KCNA said Thursday.
As for Malaysia's request for a DNA test to identify the dead man before the body could be released, the spokesman for the Korean Jurists Committee called it as an "absurd pretext."
"Malaysia is obliged to hand his body to the DPRK side as it made an autopsy and forensic examination of it in an illegal and immoral manner," the spokesman said in a statement, adding that this proves that Malaysia wants to politicize the transfer of the body in disregard of international law and morality and attain "a sinister purpose."
The incident was "undisguised encroachment upon the sovereignty of the DPRK, a wanton human rights abuse and an act contrary to human ethics and morality," the KCNA said.
The spokesman also claimed that South Korea "worked out the scenario" and released false reports that the man was poisoned to death.
"It is regretful that only Malaysia is denying such fact," added the spokesman.
The spokesman repeated that the DPRK was ready to send a delegation of jurists to Malaysia for a joint investigation into the case.
Four suspects -- a Vietnamese woman, an Indonesian woman, a Malaysian man and a DPRK man -- have been arrested, according to Malaysian police. However, the cause of death is yet to be determined by lab results.
Malaysian police chief Khalid Abu Bakar told reporters Thursday that they have sent a formal request to the DPRK Embassy for an interview with a second secretary believed to be involved in the incident.
He said Malaysia has followed the protocol and rules pertaining to foreign nationals.
He added that Malaysia has asked help from Interpol for the nabbing of four DPRK suspects who have fled the country after the incident.
