Dying interest by media to camp outside North Korean embassy

Scenes of local and foreign pressmen waiting outside the North Korean embassy to catch embassy officials for comments related to the murder of Kim Jong Nam is slowly diminishing.

Pressmen feel there is no reason to wait outside the embassy because none of the embassy staff or its spokesman Ri Tong il had issued any statements or talked to the media since Feb 18.

Jong Nam was killed on Feb 13 after two women smeared his face with a dangerous chemical believed to be VX nerve agent at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (Klia2) when he was bound for Macau.

The two woman, a Vietnamese and Indonesian national had been charged at the Sepang magistrate court for murder.

South Korean wires, Yonhap news agency correspondent Harrison Choi Hyun-seok said as far as the agency was concerned the case was considered solved and they would be heading back home soon.

"We have been here since day one and even tried to track down Jong Nam's family in Macau. We have no idea when the body well be claimed by the family and probably, they won't even claim it," he said.

Previously, international and local reporters would be camping outside the embassy until 11pm and be back at the site as early as 8am but now, less than 10 reporters are seen waiting daily and all will leave the embassy compound by 7pm.

Yesterday, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said police were currently looking for a VIP among several others to assist in the murder investigation of Jong-nam, including the three North Koreans who are believed to be hiding in the embassy.

Jong Nam is the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. - BERNAMA