Health Minister Dr S Subramaniam has expressed hope that Kim Jong-nam's family would come forward to claim his body.

“We have been told he has wives or wife and children. So we hope those people will respond and come forward to claim the body,” he told reporters in Putrajaya.

Subramaniam, who hopes that the matter would be resolved in two to three weeks, said the police have since confirmed that it is Jong-nam's body.

Earlier, there were reports claiming that Jong-nam's identity was confirmed based on fingerprint records provided by Japan.

Last week, inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar said Jong-nam's identity had been established but remained tightlipped on how this done.

Jong-nam, 46, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, died on Feb 13 after he was smeared with VX nerve agent at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA 2).

The incident ignited a diplimatic row between Pyongyang and Putrajaya.

Two women, an Indonesian and Vietnamese national, have been charged with the murder.

Meanwhile, Subramaniam confirmed that Jong Nam's body was still at the Kuala Lumpur general hospital (HKL), putting to rest speculation by several news outlets that the body had been removed earlier today.

Previously, Deputy Health Minister Dr Hilmi Yahaya stated that there are no regulation on how long a body can be kept at the hospital and that the government will decide on what to do with the body if no one claims it.

Hilmi said that the body can only be claimed by the next of kin, failing which the body would be buried in Malaysia.