Only a small amount of nerve agent — but more than enough to be lethal — was found on the face of Kim Jong-nam after he died in agony following an attack, a court heard yesterday.
Kim had 0.2mg of VX per kilogram of body weight on his facial skin, well above the typical lethal dosage, chemist Raja Subramaniam said at the trial of two women accused of the murder.
VX is so deadly that it is listed by the UN as a weapon of mass destruction, and Kim died shortly after the attack as it overcame his nervous system.
Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, in their 20s, are accused of smearing the poison on Kim’s face in February at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in a hit that stunned the world.
The women, who were arrested a few days after the killing and face death by hanging if convicted, have pleaded not guilty to murdering the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as he waited to board a flight to Macau.
Raja outlined to the Shah Alam High Court near Kuala Lumpur how much VX was found on Kim Jong-nam’s face.
Asked if it was enough to kill, he said: “I can’t give a direct answer to this. Based on concentration estimate, it is about 1.4 times the lethal dosage.”
VX was also found on the collar of Kim Jong-nam’s blazer and its sleeves, which he likely used to wipe his face after the attack.
Raja had earlier testified that VX was found on the defendants’ clothing, the first evidence linking them directly to the poison.
On Monday, the trial visited a high-security laboratory to examine the poison-tainted clothes worn by the women on the day of the attack.
The defendants have said that they were duped into believing they were taking part in a prank for a reality TV show, and their lawyers blame North Korean agents for the assassination.
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