Seoul's defense ministry said Tuesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un instructed officials to kill his half brother, accusing the country of an unforgivable and inhumane criminal act.

Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, was allegedly assassinated by two women under directions from North Korean agents in Malaysia last week. He had spoken out publicly against his family's dynastic control of the reclusive North.

In a report submitted to the National Assembly, the ministry said "Kim Jong-un is behind the killing" of his estranged elder brother.

The military will highlight the North Korean regime's recklessness and brutality in military education, the ministry said.

Moreover, the military plans to inform North Korean soldiers and civilians of the murder by their merciless leader through loudspeakers along the border, a ministry official said.

Cross-border loudspeaker broadcasts are among the tools used by Seoul to carry out nonmilitary psychological warfare against Pyongyang.

North Korea has shown sensitive reactions to the South's loudspeaker broadcasts as the country tightly restricts the inflow of outside information to prevent its residents from realizing the truth about the regime. (Yonhap)