<p>Malaysia has used a DNA sample from one of Kim Jong-Nam's children to confirm the identity of the assassinated half-brother of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Un, the deputy prime minister said today.<br /><br />Investigators "confirmed the identity of the body as Kim Jong-Nam based on the sample obtained from his child", said Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, without elaborating further.<br /><br />The 45-year-old was poisoned with the deadly nerve agent VX in a brazen Cold War-style assassination on February 13 in Kuala Lumpur International Airport.<br /><br />Seoul has blamed Pyongyang for his death, but the North has rejected those claims and has never confirmed the identity of the victim, who was carrying a passport bearing the name of Kim Chol when he was attacked.<br /><br />Malaysia officially confirmed his identity on Friday, but refused to say whether authorities had obtained a DNA sample from next-of-kin.<br /><br />Police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said at the time that concerns "for the security of the witnesses" prevented him from revealing further details.<br /><br />The killing triggered a bitter row between Malaysia and North Korea, which have expelled each other's ambassadors and refused to let their citizens leave.<br /><br />Pyongyang has denounced the Malaysian investigation as an attempt to smear the secretive regime, insisting that he most likely died of a heart attack.<br /><br />Kim's wife and children, who were living in exile in the Chinese territory of Macau, staged a vanishing act after the murder. There are fears his 21-year-old son, Kim Han-Sol, could be targeted next.<br /><br />Three Malaysian embassy staff and six family members are stranded in Pyongyang after North Korea barred Malaysians from leaving the country last week, prompting a tit-for-tat move by Kuala Lumpur.<br /><br />Two women -- one Vietnamese and one Indonesian -- have been arrested and charged with the murder. Airport CCTV footage shows them approaching the victim and apparently smearing his face with a piece of cloth.</p>
<p>Malaysia has used a DNA sample from one of Kim Jong-Nam's children to confirm the identity of the assassinated half-brother of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Un, the deputy prime minister said today.<br /><br />Investigators "confirmed the identity of the body as Kim Jong-Nam based on the sample obtained from his child", said Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, without elaborating further.<br /><br />The 45-year-old was poisoned with the deadly nerve agent VX in a brazen Cold War-style assassination on February 13 in Kuala Lumpur International Airport.<br /><br />Seoul has blamed Pyongyang for his death, but the North has rejected those claims and has never confirmed the identity of the victim, who was carrying a passport bearing the name of Kim Chol when he was attacked.<br /><br />Malaysia officially confirmed his identity on Friday, but refused to say whether authorities had obtained a DNA sample from next-of-kin.<br /><br />Police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said at the time that concerns "for the security of the witnesses" prevented him from revealing further details.<br /><br />The killing triggered a bitter row between Malaysia and North Korea, which have expelled each other's ambassadors and refused to let their citizens leave.<br /><br />Pyongyang has denounced the Malaysian investigation as an attempt to smear the secretive regime, insisting that he most likely died of a heart attack.<br /><br />Kim's wife and children, who were living in exile in the Chinese territory of Macau, staged a vanishing act after the murder. There are fears his 21-year-old son, Kim Han-Sol, could be targeted next.<br /><br />Three Malaysian embassy staff and six family members are stranded in Pyongyang after North Korea barred Malaysians from leaving the country last week, prompting a tit-for-tat move by Kuala Lumpur.<br /><br />Two women -- one Vietnamese and one Indonesian -- have been arrested and charged with the murder. Airport CCTV footage shows them approaching the victim and apparently smearing his face with a piece of cloth.</p>