“So far no family member or next of kin has come to identify or claim the body. We need a DNA sample of a family member to match the profile of the dead person,” Abdul Samah Mat said.
“North Korea has submitted a request to claim the body, but before we release the body we have to identify who the body belongs to,” he added.
Malaysia’s deputy prime minister, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, on Thursday confirmed that the man who was killed at a Kuala Lumpur airport on Monday was Kim Jong Nam, the estranged sibling of Kim Jong Un, referring to the passports carried by the man.
Zahid also said Malaysia would be willing to accommodate a request from Pyongyang to return the body.
Jong Nam, 46, was believed to have been in Malaysia on a passport bearing the name Kim Chol, a known alias, according to South Korean media.