(LEAD) State Department 'aware' of death of N.K. leader's brother
(ATTN: CORRECTS time element to Monday in para 3)
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. State Department said Tuesday it is aware of reports that the half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been killed in Malaysia, but declined any further comment.
"We are aware of reports. We refer you to the Malaysian authorities," a department spokesperson told Yonhap News Agency.
Kim Jong-nam, the 45-year-old eldest son of late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, who has a different mother from the current leader, was found dead at the Kuala Lumpur airport on Monday in what was suspected to be an assassination.
Reports have said Kim was attacked by two unidentified women with "poisoned needles."
A source familiar with the case said that agents of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, North Korea's spy agency, have carried out the assassination by taking advantage of a security loophole created between Kim's bodyguards and Malaysian police at the Malaysian airport.
jschang@yna.co.kr
(END)
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