1st LD Writethru: Malaysian doctors still waiting for lab results to determine cause of DPRK man's death

Doctors found no sign of puncture on the body of a Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) man, who died at the Kuala Lumpur airport last week, as the cause of death is yet to be determined by results from a lab, a Malaysian health official said on Tuesday.

Medicolegal specimen taken from the DPRK man, which include fingerprints and dental ones, have been sent to a lab for further analysis to determine the cause of his death, Noor Hisham bin Abdullah, director of health in the health ministry, told a press conference.

Hisham did not elaborate on what they found in the postmortem, which was completed on Feb. 15, but said the whole process was "conducted professionally."

He denied media reports, which said a second autopsy was conducted on the deceased man. Until now, no next-of-kin of the deceased man has showed up to help authorities carry out DNA identification, a key step in determining the identity, he said.

Bypassing a question from a reporter on what kind of toxin they found on the body, Hisham said they had to wait for the lab results.

Following the killing on Feb. 13, Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had told reporters that the man was Kim Jong Nam, the elder half-brother of DPRK top leader Kim Jong Un.

It is not known when the postmortem results could be released, but an investigation already saw Malaysia in a row with the DPRK. DPRK Ambassador Kang Chol said on Monday that he did not trust the investigation launched by Malaysian police and accused the Malaysian government of colluding with "hostile forces" and pinning suspicion on Pyongyang.

When asked about about Kang's remarks, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Tuesday the envoy's comments were "totally uncalled for" and "diplomatically rude," according to the state news agency Bernama.

Malaysia has been having good ties with the DPRK and has no reason to paint a negative image of the country, said Najib, adding "We are very objective."

"They (the DPRK) should help us to find out the truth. That is more important than (making) sweeping and baseless statements," Najib said.

The Malaysian police have detained two female suspects - an Indonesian and a Vietnamese. A DPRK man, working in Kuala Lumpur as an IT engineer, was also arrested. Endit