Malaysia mistook slain Kim Jong Nam to be South Korean

Malaysian authorities wrongly identified the slain half-brother of North Korea's leader as a South Korean national and first alerted Seoul's embassy in Kuala Lumpur soon after his death, sources familiar with the incident said.

The police error did have a silver lining: It enabled Seoul to quickly inform Kuala Lumpur the dead man was probably Kim Jong Nam, half-brother to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Kim was murdered around mid-morning on Feb. 13, when Malaysian police say two women smeared super toxic VX nerve agent on his face at the budget terminal of Kuala Lumpur International Airport. After examining the victim's passport, Malaysian authorities confused the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the formal name of North Korea, with the Republic of Korea, the official name of its estranged southern neighbour, the sources said. Malaysian authorities contacted the South Korean Embassy, sending along copies of documents found on Kim's body. After the mix-up was realised, North Korea's diplomatic mission in Kuala Lumpur was informed on the day of the murder, the sources said.