The older brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been assassinated at Kuala Lumpur's airport, according to reports.
Multiple South Korean media outlets, citing unnamed sources, said Kim Jong-nam died after being targeted in the Malaysian capital by two women using poison needles.
TV Chosun said the women are believed to be North Korean agents and are being sought by Malaysian police after fleeing in a taxi.
The district police chief, Abdul Aziz Ali, could not confirm the reports. He said only that a North Korean man was waiting for a flight to Macau on Monday when he fell ill and died en route to hospital.
Selangor state police chief Abu Samah Mat said the man went to the airport clinic complaining that he had been sprayed with liquid and was in pain, and he died on the way to Putrajaya Hospital.
He added that the man held a North Korean passport but "we do not know his identity".
Kim Jong Nam reportedly fell out of favour in North Korea after being caught trying to enter Japan on a false passport in 2001, saying he wanted to visit Tokyo Disneyland.
He is believed to be in his mid-40s and has reportedly been living in recent years in Macau, Singapore and Malaysia.
Kim Jong-nam and Kim Jong-un have the same father, late dictator Kim Jong-il, but have different mothers.
A member of staff at the emergency ward at Putrajaya Hospital said the dead man was born in 1970 and was identified only as Kim.
