North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s half-brother was assassinated with a lethal nerve agent manufactured for chemical warfare and listed by the UN as a weapon of mass destruction, Malaysian police said yesterday.
Releasing a preliminary toxicology report on Kim Jong-nam’s murder at Kuala Lumpur airport, police revealed the poison used by the assassins was the odorless, tasteless and highly toxic VX.
The news brought condemnation from South Korea, which criticized the use of the nerve agent as a “blatant violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and other international norms.”
Photo: Reuters / PTS Chip
Experts in South Korea said that the North has up to 5,000 tonnes of chemical weapons stockpiled, including a supply of VX.
Kim Jong-nam died on Feb. 13 after being attacked at Kuala Lumpur International Airport by two women, who are seen on CCTV footage shoving something into his face.
He suffered a seizure and was dead before he reached hospital.
An autopsy revealed traces of VX — a fast-acting toxin that sparks respiratory collapse and heart failure — on the dead man’s face and in his eyes.
Tiny amounts of the poison are enough to kill an adult, whether it is inhaled or absorbed through the skin.
“I am outraged that the criminals used such a dangerous chemical in a public area,” Malaysian Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said.
It “could have caused mass injuries or even death to other people,” he said.
One of the two women arrested after the attack fell ill in custody, police said, adding that she had been vomiting.
Royal Malaysia Police Inspector General Khalid Abu Bakar has previously said the woman who attacked Kim Jong-nam from behind clearly knew she was carrying out a poison attack, dismissing claims that she thought she was taking part in a TV prank.
“The lady was moving away with her hands toward the bathroom,” Khalid said earlier this week. “She was very aware that it was toxic and that she needed to wash her hands.”
Khalid yesterday said that experts would sweep the airport terminal where the Cold War era-style attack took place for traces of the toxin, as well as other locations the women had visited.
“We are investigating how [the VX] entered the country,” he told reporters.
Detectives are holding three people — two women from Indonesia and Vietnam, and a North Korean man — but want to speak to seven others.
One man wanted for questioning is senior North Korean embassy official Hyon Kwang-song.
North Korean Ambassador to Malaysia Kang Chol has said Pyongyang “cannot trust” the police to conduct their probe fairly. He was told to shut up or face the prospect of being kicked out of the nation.
“The ambassador has been informed of the process involved [in the police investigation], but he continues to be delusional, and spew lies and accusations against the government of Malaysia,” Malaysian Minister of Foreign Affairs Anifah Aman said.
A senior government official said Kang had been shown a “yellow card.”
“If he repeats the baseless allegations, he will be expelled,” the official said.
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