Members of the youth wing of the National Front, hold placards during a protest at the North Korea embassy in Kuala Lumpur, yesterday.
Seoul: North Korea's state media broke a 10-day silence yesterday on the murder of Kim Jong-Un's half brother, launching a ferocious assault on Malaysia for "immoral" handling of the case and for playing politics with the corpse.
In its first comments on the airport assassination of Kim Jong-Nam, KCNA said Malaysia bore responsibility for the death, and accused it of conspiring with South Korea.
"Malaysia is obliged to hand his body to the DPRK (North Korea) side as it made an autopsy and forensic examination of it in an illegal and immoral manner", the North's Korean Jurists Committee said\.
Malaysia has not released the corpse "under the absurd pretext" that it needs a DNA sample from the dead man's family, it said.
"This proves that the Malaysian side is going to politicise the transfer of the body in utter disregard of international law and morality and thus attain a sinister purpose," it said.
Throughout its lengthy dispatch, KCNA avoided any reference to the dead man's identity, calling him only "a citizen of the DPRK bearing a diplomatic passport".
North Korea has never acknowledged him as the estranged brother of its leader.
An autopsy has ruled out heart failure, with investigators focusing on the theory that a toxin was applied to his face, in what South Korea has insisted was a targeted assassination.
Malaysian detectives are holding three people but want to speak to seven others, including diplomat Hyon Kwang Song.
But Malaysia's top policeman acknowledged yesterdat that unless Hyon, second secretary at the North Korean mission, volunteers himself, they will be unable to speak to him.
"We will adhere to the rules of immunity," Khalid Abu Bakar said. "We cannot go inside the embassy."
Malaysian police think four North Korean suspects may have fled to Pyongyang immediately after the killing.
A small group of protesters descended on North Korea's embassy yesterday, with many carrying signs reading "Respect Malaysia".
Demonstrators from the youth wing of Malaysia's ruling party handed in a letter to diplomats denouncing Pyongyang's "impermissible attitude and rudeness" and urging the North "to reconsider its aggressive approach".
It was reported yesterday that South Korea is using giant loudspeakers to blast news of the dramatic assassination across the border with its reclusive northern neighbour.
Seoul employed its banks of high-decibel loudspeakers to ensure details of the death of Jong-Nam, once believed to be the North's likely heir, reverberated through the border area, Seoul's MBC TV station said.
