Asia

Family, friends describe 'nice girl' embroiled in Kim case

Associated Press
Published | Updated

This photo from Indonesian news portal Kumparan obtained on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017 shows the portrait on the passport of Siti Aisyah, 25, an Indonesian woman suspected to be involved in the killing of the North Korean leader's half brother at Kuala Lumpur Airport on Monday, Feb. 13. Indonesian diplomats in Malaysia have met with the woman and confirmed she is an Indonesian citizen, officials said Thursday. (Kumparan via AP) (The Associated Press)

FILE - This May 4, 2001, file photo shows Kim Jong Nam, exiled half brother of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, escorted by Japanese police officers at the airport in Narita, Japan. Kim Jong Nam, 46, was targeted Monday, Feb. 13, 2017, in the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia, and later died on the way to the hospital, according to a Malaysian government official. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye, File) (The Associated Press)

North Korean Ambassador to Malaysia Kang Chol, center, stands at the entrance as he prepares to leave the forensic department at a hospital in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017. News of the apparent assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's half brother rippled across Asia on Wednesday as Malaysian investigators scoured airport surveillance video for clues about two female suspects and rival South Korea offered up a single, shaky motive: paranoia. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian) (The Associated Press)

Family and former neighbors of the Indonesian woman suspected of involvement in the audacious killing of the North Korean leader's half brother in Malaysia are stunned by the arrest of the young mother who they say was a polite and quiet "nice girl."

Siti Aisyah, 25, is one of three people arrested so far by Malaysian police for possible involvement in the apparent assassination of Kim Jong Nam.

Between 2008 and 2011 she and her husband at that time lived in a modest dwelling with flaking red paint in the densely populated Tambora neighborhood in western Jakarta.

Her father-in-law Tjia Liong Kiong, who lives in a nearby middle class neighborhood, described Aisyah as a "very kind, polite and respectful person."

He says, "I don't believe that she would do such a crime."