A Malaysian official has said that police were able to confirm the identity of Kim Jong-nam, who was killed last month at Kuala Lumpur's airport, using a DNA sample from one of his children.
Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi also said negotiations began this week to resolve a diplomat standoff over the death of Kim, the estranged half brother of North Korea's leader. North Korea has rejected the autopsy finding.
Authorities said Kim was killed Feb. 13 when two women smeared his face with the nerve agent VX in an airport terminal. He was carrying a passport bearing the name Kim Chol. Police said last week they had confirmed he was Kim Jong Nam, but refused to say how.
Zahid said Wednesday authorities obtained DNA from one of Kim's children.
The killing triggered a bitter row between Malaysia and North Korea, which have expelled each other's ambassadors and refused to let their citizens leave.
Pyongyang has denounced the Malaysian investigation as an attempt to smear the secretive regime, insisting that he most likely died of a heart attack.
Kim's wife and children, who were living in exile in the Chinese territory of Macau, staged a vanishing act after the murder. There are fears his 21-year-old son, Kim Han-Sol, could be targeted next.
