MALAYSIAN police insisted in court today that the absence of four North Korean suspects believed to have orchestrated the killing of dynastic leader Kim Jong Un’s half brother does not prejudice the case against the two women who are on trial.

Defence lawyers say Doan Thi Huong of Vietnam and Siti Aisyah of Indonesia are scapegoats in the death of Kim Jong Nam at Kuala Lumpur airport on February 13 2017.

Prosecutors say four North Korean suspects recruited the women and provided them with the banned VX nerve agent used to kill Mr Kim before fleeing the country on the same day.