Seoul: The US Department of Justice has filed a criminal complaint against a North Korean man suspected of killing Pyongyang leader Kim Jong-un's half brother on charges of violating sanctions placed on the communist regime.
The Department on Friday announced the complaint charging Ri Jong-chol and two others with "conspiracy to violate North Korean Sanctions Regulations and bank fraud, and conspiracy to launder funds", the Seoul-based Yonhap News Agency reported on Saturday.
Ri is suspected of murdering Kim Jong-nam, the half brother of the North Korean leader, in 2017 in Malaysia.
Ri was taken into custody but was later released due to lack of evidence.
Read also: Trump saved MBS after Khashoggi killing: Woodward's book
The FBI's Minneapolis field office is investigating the case, the Department added.
Kim Jong-nam was killed in the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia in February 2017, when two women smeared his face with the VX nerve agent.
Kim Jong-nam was Kim Jong-il's eldest son, and for a while, it appeared he was being groomed to succeed him.
But he fell from favour in the early 2000s.
IANS
