Malaysia's prime minister said Tuesday the surprise release of an Indonesian woman who was on trial for assassinating the North Korean leader's half-brother followed the "rule of law", after suspicions of meddling amid an intense lobbying effort by Jakarta.

An Indonesian woman accused in the 2017 chemical poison murder of the North Korean leader's half-brother was freed on Monday after a Malaysian court dropped a murder charge in a case that drew suspicions of being a political assassination.

A Malaysian court on Tuesday suspended the trial of a woman accused of killing the half-brother of North Korea's leader as her lawyers sought more time to seek written statements from witnesses.

A woman accused of killing the North Korean leader's estranged half-brother was hired for a prank television show by a suspect wanted by the Malaysian police just over a month earlier, her lawyer told a court on Tuesday.