The half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been killed in Malaysia, South Korean government sources say.

Kim Jong-nam, 45, is said to have been targeted at the airport in Kuala Lumpur, the capital.

The BBC has not been able to independently confirm the reports.

Senior Malaysian police have confirmed that a North Korean man died in transit to hospital from the airport. They have not confirmed his identity.

Both South Korean state news agency Yonhap and Reuters news agency are reporting the news based on South Korean government sources.

Kim Jong-nam is the eldest son of Kim Jong-il, who ruled North Korea from 1994 until his death in 2011.

According to a report from TV Chosun, a cable television network in South Korea, Mr Kim was poisoned at the airport by two women, believed to be North Korean operatives. These details have not been confirmed elsewhere.

In 2001, Mr Kim was caught trying to enter Japan using a false passport. He told officials that he was planning to visit Tokyo Disneyland.

Once seen as a likely successor to his father Kim Jong-il, he was thought to have fallen out of favour with him over the incident.

Bypassed in favour of his youngest half-brother for succession, Kim Jong-nam kept a low profile, spending most of his time overseas, mainly in Macau.

He was quoted by Japanese media in 2011 as saying he opposed “dynastic succession”.

He was also quoted in a 2012 book as saying that he believed his younger half-brother lacked leadership qualities, the succession would not work, and that North Korea was unstable and needed Chinese-style economic reform.

He has reportedly been targeted for assassination in the past. A North Korean spy jailed by South Korea in 2012 was reported to have admitted trying to organise a hit-and-run accident targeting Kim Jong-nam.