KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) – Malaysian police were able to confirm the identity of Kim Jong Nam, who was killed last month at Kuala Lumpur’s airport, using a DNA sample from one of his children, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Wednesday.
Zahid also said negotiations began Monday to resolve a diplomatic standoff over the death of Kim, the estranged half brother of North Korea’s leader.
Malaysian authorities say Kim was killed Feb. 13 when two women smeared his face with the banned nerve agent VX in a crowded airport terminal. He was carrying a passport bearing the name Kim Chol. Police said last week they had confirmed he was Kim Jong Nam, but refused to say how.
North Korea – widely suspected of being behind the attack – has rejected the autopsy findings.
Zahid said police “confirmed that the identity of the body is Kim Jong Nam based on the sample taken from his child.” He didn’t say when and where the DNA sample was taken.