Video appears to show fatal attack on North Korean exile

Malaysia's Prime MinisterNajib Razak said on Monday his government's investigation of thekilling of the North Korean leader's half-brother, Kim Jong-nam,will be "objective" while tensions between the countries rose and video emerged that appears to show the fatal attack.

Earlier on Monday, Malaysia said it has recalled its envoyfrom Pyongyang and summoned North Korea's ambassador in KualaLumpur, who again cast doubt on the impartiality of Malaysia'sinvestigation into the killing and said the victim was not KimJong-nam.

"We have no reason why we want to do something to paintNorth Korea in a bad light, but we will be objective," Najibtold reporters in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.

Surveillance footage obtained by Reuters appearsto show Kim Jong-nam being attacked at Kuala Lumpur International Airport onMonday last week by a woman, who is believed to have wiped afast-acting poison on his face.

Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity ofthe video, and police officials were not immediately availablefor comment.

Kim Jong-nam, 46, who had been living in the Chineseterritory of Macau under Beijing's protection, had spoken outpublicly against his family's dynastic control of isolated,nuclear-armed North Korea.

South Korean legislators last week cited their spy agency assaying the young and unpredictable North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, had issued a "standing order" for his half-brother'sassassination, and that there had been a failed attempt in 2012.

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Malaysian police are hunting four North Koreans who fledfrom the country on the day of the attack, having alreadydetained one North Korean man, a Vietnamese woman, an Indonesianwoman and a Malaysian man.

At least three of the wanted North Koreans caught anEmirates flight to Dubai from Jakarta late on the day of theattack, an immigration official in Indonesia told Reuters.

Malaysia's Star newspaper reported that all four hadreturned to North Korea.

Malaysia's health minister said autopsy results could bereleased by Wednesday.

The country is one of the few that maintains tieswith North Korea and the dispute could further isolate the impoverished reclusive state.

'Unforgivable and inhumane'

South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn told a meeting of the country's National Security Council that North Korea was almost certainly behind the killing.

"The murder carried out in public at an internationalairport of a third country is an unforgivable and inhumanecriminal act and clearly demonstrates the recklessness andbrutality of the North Korean regime that will spare no avenueswhen it comes to perpetuating itself," Hwang said.

"The North Korean regime's terrorism tactics are gettingbolder so we must be more vigilant."

The grainy CCTV images showed Kim, wearing a light-colouredjacket and trousers and with a backpack on one shoulder, headingfor an automatic check-in counter in the airport departure hall.

A woman approaches Kim from behind on the left and another identified as the Vietnamese woman, wearing a whiteshirt walks rapidly up behind him from his right, before whatappears to be a scuffle takes place.

In footage taken from another angle, the woman in the whiteshirt appears to lunge from behind and throw something over hishead, locking her arms around him briefly.

As the woman in white quickly walks away, the second womanalso moves off rapidly in another direction.

Later footage shows the portly, balding middle-aged man stumbling, wiping his face, and seeking help from people whilegesturing to his eyes before being escorted to a clinic.

China irritated

The mother of the detained Indonesian woman told Reutersthat her daughter, Siti Aishah, had been duped into believingshe was part of a television show or advertisement.

According to Malaysian media, the Vietnamese suspect, DoanThi Huong, told police she had been tricked into taking part inwhat she thought was a practical joke.

There is speculation that China's patience with North Koreacould be tested by the killing because Kim had been living inMacau, where he was headed when he was attacked.

• PHOTOS: Members of North Korea's ruling family

China said on Saturday it had suspended coal imports fromthe North, a vital source of revenue.

China is seen to be irritated by the North's repeatedaggressive behaviour, including two nuclear tests since early2016 and a Feb. 12 intermediate-range ballistic missile launch,the latest in a series of missile tests.