Updated

A Malaysian police investigator says the absence of four North Korean suspects believed to have orchestrated the killing of their leader's half brother didn't cause prejudice against the two women who are on trial.

Defense lawyers say Doan Thi Huong of Vietnam and Siti Aisyah of Indonesia are scapegoats in the murder of Kim Jong Nam at Kuala Lumpur's airport on Feb. 13 last year. Prosecutors say four North Koreans recruited the women and provided them VX nerve agent before fleeing the country.

Chief police investigator Wan Azirul Nizam Che Wan Aziz on Thursday disagreed with the defense's contention that the absence of the four North Koreans caused prejudice, saying the women were the ones who had actually committed the killing.