Indonesia - Indonesia’s vice-president said on Friday the woman held in Malaysia for suspected involvement in the murder of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s half-brother thought she was taking part in a TV prank.
“She was deceived into doing what was thought to be a media prank, a reality show,” Jusuf Kalla was quoted as saying by Detik.com news website.
“That’s what they told us.”
Three people, including Indonesian national Siti Aisyah, have been arrested in Malaysia in connection with the murder of Kim Jong-nam at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
Aisyah’s mother, Benah, told Detik that the family found out about her arrest from television news. “We were shocked,” she said. “We didn’t know anything.”
Benah said Aisyah worked in Batam, an Indonesian island near Singapore, selling clothing and usually sent her 500000 rupiah (R486) every month. “She went to Malaysia as a tourist,” she said.
The woman with the acronym “LOL” on her shirt who was arrested this week in connection with the murder of Kim Jong-nam stayed in cheap hotels, carried a wad of cash and cut her hair a day before the brazen attack.
According to the receptionist at one of the hotels, a woman who had checked in under the Vietnamese name of Doan Thi Huong on Sunday, left early in the morning on Monday, the day of the assassination, and returned later, showing no signs of stress.
Police believe she was the person who, at around 8.20am that day, had approached the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un from behind at the
Malaysian capital’s budget airline terminal and thrust a deadly poisonous substance into his face.
According to Malaysian media reports, Doan told police she had been duped into what she thought was a harmless practical joke.
A second woman who has been detained, an Indonesian national, also thought she was involved in a prank, some media reports said.
Siti Aishah had lived a quiet life in a slum district of Jakarta before going to find work in Malaysia, residents in the western neighbourhood of the Indonesian capital said.
According to Malaysian media reports, she stood in front of Kim to distract him while her accomplice approached from behind.
In Jakarta, Aishah had worked for a time in the tailoring business in the house of her ex-husband’s family, sewing clothes by hand, former neighbours in the Tambora district said.
“I can’t believe the news. Her background was very simple,” said community leader R Yusri.
The couple moved to Malaysia several years ago but separated in 2012. Aishah’s former father-in-law said she had returned to Jakarta on January 28 to visit her 7-year-old son.
Ida Anisafitri, a neighbour, said Aishah kept a low profile when she visited there.
“We would see her briefly with the child and then she would go back inside the house,” Anisafitri said, as a loudspeaker from a nearby mosque sounded with the call to prayer.