Under fire but defiant, North Korea sends envoys to Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — A high-level North Korean delegation arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday seeking the body of leader Kim Jong Un’s half brother, the victim of a nerve-agent attack that many suspect the North itself of orchestrating.

The delegation includes Ri Tong Il, a former North Korean deputy ambassador to the United Nations, who told reporters Tuesday outside the North Korean Embassy that the diplomats were in Malaysia to retrieve the body and seek the release of a North Korean arrested in the case.

North Korea, however, has identified him only as a North Korean national with a diplomatic passport bearing the name Kim Chol.

Malaysian authorities say North Koreans put the deadly nerve agent VX on the hands of two women who then placed the toxin on Kim’s face.

Malaysian Attorney General Mohamed Apandi Ali said Tuesday in a text message that the two women accused of killing Kim Jong Nam — Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong — will be charged with murder Wednesday and would face a mandatory death sentence if convicted.