With the death of a dictator’s half-brother, things were bound to get interesting.
In the span of a week, the story of Kim Jong Nam’s death has morphed into a murder-mystery filled with palace intrigue and geopolitical ramifications, topped with the surrealist tinge of reality television.
The latest news — Malaysia is recalling its ambassador over Kim’s death and summoning Pyongyang’s own representative in Kuala Lumpur after he accused his host country of conspiring with “hostile forces” in its investigation.
Here’s how the story got to this point.
Monday: The incident
Kim was scheduled to catch a flight from Kuala Lumpur to the Chinese-administered city of Macau when he “felt like someone grabbed or held his face from behind,” according to Selangor State Criminal Investigations Department Chief Fadzil Ahmat.
Feeling dizzy, he then went to an airport customer assistance counter to seek medical help. Kim was taken to a clinic on the premises, which decided to call an ambulance and send him to the hospital. He died en route.
Tuesday: The news
News of Kim Jong Nam’s death broke Tuesday night. Police initially described the incident as a “sudden death” pending the results of a post-mortem.
Malaysian authorities said Kim was traveling with a passport bearing the name Kim Chol.
Wednesday: Murder
South Korean officials announced Tuesday they believed Kim’s death was murder and placed the blame on North Korea.
Lee Cheol Woo, the chairman of South Korea’s National Assembly Intelligence Committee, told reporters that Kim had been poisoned, and the suspects were “presumed to be two Asian females.”
In Malaysia, police made the first two arrests in connection with the case, detaining Doan Thi Huong, a 30-year-old Vietnamese woman, at the airport and 26-year-old Muhammad Farid Bin Jalaluddin in the city of Anpang.
Thursday: The LOL suspect
Police said Jalaluddin helped them locate another suspect: his girlfriend, a 25-year-old Indonesian woman named Siti Aishah. She was arrested at 2 a.m. local time.
Later that day police also confirmed the validity of the now-infamous “LOL” photo, an image from closed circuit security footage showing one of the female suspects in the case on Monday.
Authorities did not specify if it was Aishah or Duong in the image.
Friday: The ‘prank’ and unwanted autopsy
Aishah told police she thought she was participating in a prank for a TV show.
Indonesian police chief Tito Karnavian said that the suspect, Siti Aishah, told police she had sprayed others in a similar manner three or four times, although only the Kim incident allegedly involved a dangerous substance.
Aishah was given a few dollars for the job, unaware that she was being used as a tool in a potential assassination plot, Karnavian said.
Friday also was the point tensions between North Korea and Malaysia boiled over publicly.
After news of the death broke Tuesday, Malaysian authorities announced they would be conducting an autopsy as part of its investigation — something North Korean officials later said they would not accept unless their officials can witness the procedure.
Pyongyang’s ambassador to Malaysia, Kang Chol, said Friday the country would reject the results of a “forced” autopsy on one of its citizens and demanded the immediate release of the body.
But Selangor Police Chief Abdul Samah Mat said without DNA from a next of kin, they wouldn’t hand over Kim Jong Nam’s body or release the autopsy report, which could reveal the cause of death.
A fourth arrest was also made on Friday. Police said they detained North Korean Ri Jong Chol at an apartment in Selangor.
Saturday: The Inspector speaks
Malaysia’s police chief, Inspector General Khalid Abu Bakar, told CNN that his country didn’t need North Korea’s permission to conduct the autopsy.
He said the authorities were willing to carry out a second autopsy if it was requested by Kim’s family — and reiterated that they did not require any consent from or witness by North Korean officials.
Sunday: The final four?
Top police official Noor Rashid Ibrahim told reporters that authorities were still looking for four more suspects, all North Koreans who left the country the day of the attack.
When asked whether Malaysian authorities thought Kim’s death had been ordered by the North Korean government, he said “the four hold North Korean nationality, that is all.”
Ibrahim said the suspects do not not hold diplomatic passports.
Police said they were also looking for three other people to assist in the investigation.