SHAH ALAM: The real names of the four men who were alleged to have been involved in the assassination of North Korean Kim Chol were revealed in the High Court today.
Assistant Superintendent Wan Azirul Che Wan Aziz said the suspects who were only known by their nicknames Mr Chang, Mr Y, Hanamori@ Grandpa/Uncle, and Mr James were Hong Song Sac, 34, Ri Ji Hyon, 33, Ri Jae Nam, 57, and O Jong Gil,55.
Azirul, who was the investigating officer handling the case, told the court that he obtained the names from the Bukit Aman Special Branch intelligence.
He was testifying in the trial of Indonesian Siti Aisyah, 25, and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, 28, who are charged with murdering Kim Chol, along with four others still at large, at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (klia2) on Feb 13.
When questioned by deputy public prosecutor Muhamad Iskandar Ahmad regarding the identity and movement of the suspects, Azirul said the four men were North Koreans and they left Malaysia on the day of the incident.
Iskandar: Give the identity of the four suspects who are still at large.
Azirul: Hong Song Hac also known as Mr Chang arrived in Malaysia on Jan 31, 2017, and flew out of the country on Feb 13,2017.
Ri Ji Hyon also known as Mr Y arrived in Malaysia on Feb 4, 2017, and flew out of the country on Feb 13, 2017.
Ri Jae Nam also known as Hanamori arrived in Malaysia on Feb 1, 2017, and left the country on Feb 13, 2017.
O Jong Gil also known as James arrived in Malaysia on Feb 7, 2017, and left the country on Feb 13, 2017.
Azirul also said through his investigations he found that Song Hac, Jae Nam and Ji Hyon left Malaysia and took a flight to Jakarta at 12.30pm the same day.
He however said he could not remember Jong Gil's movements as he did not have his notebook with him during the proceedings today.
Azirul also testified that James' identity and details from Siti Aisyah's handphone was Ri Ji U, 36, a North Korean citizen.
He said however there was no record of Ji U's movement or track record of him entering or leaving the country.
When asked by Iskandar on the next step he took after obtaining the names, Azirul said he applied for a warrant of arrest through Interpol.
"I applied for a warrant for all four suspects and also for Ri Ji U through Interpol where they (Interpol) first listed down the names of the wanted people and issued a blue notice and then changed the status to a red notice for people who are most wanted," he said.
He added that so far he does not know the status of the arrest warrants or whether any arrest was made on the suspects.
Azirul had also in his testimony showed a closed circuit television (CCTV) footage showing James with an officer from the North Korea embassy and a manager from Air Koryo, a North Korea airline company.
"Based on the footage, the two men were seen helping Jong Gil with his flight ticket at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).
"Meanwhile the other three suspects were seen with the officer and airline manager at 9.43am on the same day at the same place for the same purpose," the witness said.
To a question by Iskandar on how he knew the identity of the officer from the North Korea embassy and the Air Koryo manager, he said the information were from the Bukit Aman's Special Branch division.
"This was because I had sent images of the two men along with the image of the four suspects to the Special Branch division.
"Apart from that I had recorded their statement and overall they told me that they would go to KLIA to assist every North Korean taking a flight out of the country (Malaysia)," he said.
Trial continues tomorrow before judge Datuk Azmi Ariffin.
Kim Chol who was claimed to be Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was killed using the highly toxic liquid nerve agent VX at klia2 about 9am on Feb 13.