A Malaysian judge and court officials wore face masks and surgical gloves in court as samples were admitted as evidence of where VX nerve agent was found on the body and clothing of the estranged half-brother of North Korea's leader.

Lawyers for two women accused of murdering Kim Jong Nam say Malaysian police still have not provided them with security camera footage and documents crucial to the defence.

A lawyer for one of the women accused of poisoning North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's half brother says that Malaysia has potentially compromised the case.

Malaysia said it has agreed to release the body of Kim Jong Nam to North Korea in exchange for the return of nine Malaysians held in the North's capital.

The family of Kim Jong Nam, who was killed last month, has given consent to Malaysia to decide what to do with his body, police in Kuala Lumpur have said.

Malaysia has said it will give relatives of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's half brother two to three weeks to claim his body before deciding its fate.

Malaysian police have formally identified Kim Jong Nam as the victim of a fatal nerve agent attack at Kuala Lumpur's airport.

A North Korean chemist deported from Malaysia has accused police of threatening to kill his family unless he confessed to the assassination of the half-brother of North Korea's leader, calling it a plot to tarnish his country's honour.

Malaysian authorities have deported the only North Korean detained over the killing of Kim Jong Nam, and issued an arrest warrant for another man whose whereabouts are unknown.

A North Korean envoy has rejected a Malaysian post-mortem examination finding that the VX nerve agent killed Kim Jong Nam, saying he probably died of a heart attack.

Two women accused of killing the half-brother of North Korea's leader with a nerve agent in a Kuala Lumpur airport terminal will be charged with murder on Wednesday, Malaysia's chief prosecutor has said.

The dose of nerve agent given to North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un's half-brother was so high that it killed him within 20 minutes and caused "very serious paralysis", Malaysia's health minister has said.

Two women, a Vietnamese and an Indonesian, have been arrested for allegedly coating their hands with the nerve agent VX and wiping them on the face of Kim Jong Nam at Kuala Lumpur's airport.

Two women suspected of fatally poisoning the half-brother of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un were trained to coat their hands with toxic chemicals then wipe them on his face, Malaysian police have said.

Malaysian officials trying to determine whether poison killed the half brother of North Korea's leader in a busy airport have said post-mortem tests are so far inconclusive.

A cause of death has not yet been determined for the half-brother of North Korea's leader who died last week after apparently being poisoned in the budget terminal of a Kuala Lumpur airport, Malaysian officials said.

The investigation into the death of the exiled half-brother of North Korea's ruler Kim Jong Un is being carried out in an impartial manner, Malaysia's ambassador to Pyongyang has said.

North Korea's top envoy in Kuala Lumpur has denounced Malaysia's investigation into the apparent killing of the exiled half-brother of the country's ruler.

Malaysia's ambassador to North Korea has been recalled from Pyongyang amid rising tensions over the suspected assassination of Kim Jong Nam in Kuala Lumpur.

Four more North Korean suspects are being hunted by Malaysia's police in the probe into the suspected assassination of Kim Jong Nam.

North Korea will "categorically reject" the results of a post-mortem on Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of the country's ruler, its ambassador in Malaysia said.

The Indonesian woman arrested over the killing of the North Korean leader's half brother in Malaysia was duped into thinking she was part of a prank on a TV comedy show, according to Indonesia's national police chief.

Here is a look at some of North Korea's most famous female spies.