Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, died less than half an hour after two women exposed him to deadly VX nerve agent.
The half brother of Kim Jong-un passed away after being exposed to VX nerve agent – one of the most deadly chemical weapons. Nine years ago today, Kuala Lumpur airport was experiencing a typically hectic day, with commuters and holidaymakers passing through the Malaysian capital.
Blending in amongst fellow travellers was a middle-aged North Korean man dressed in casual clothing – a blue polo shirt and jeans – who was wandering around the budget airlines terminal, awaiting his flight back home to Macau. Kim Chol was the alias of Kim Jong-nam – the estranged half-brother of Kim Jong-un, and the one who was initially anticipated to follow his father’s footsteps and become North Korean supreme leader.
At approximately 9am, Kim stood near a self check-in kiosk when a woman suddenly approached him and smeared an oily substance across his face before rushing away. A second woman emerged, covering his eyes with her hands and sliding them down over his mouth, before apologising and vanishing into the crowds, reports the Mirror US.
Kim, already experiencing dizziness and pain, located an airport receptionist to report the incident. He was quickly rushed on a stretcher to the airport’s medical clinic, where staff described him as sweating, unresponsive, and in obvious distress.
He received treatment using atropine, adrenaline and tracheal intubation, but rapidly passed away, less than half an hour after the attack.
Subsequently an autopsy would confirm the man had been exposed to VX nerve agent, one of the most deadly chemical weapons known – a component that triggers rapid respiratory failure by blocking the acetylcholinesterase enzyme. In Kim’s situation, the toxic agent had resulted in the collapse of his lungs, brain, liver and spleen, alongside pupil constriction and involuntary defecation.
Officers discovered he was carrying approximately US$100,000 in currency and four North Korean passports, each displaying the name Kim Chol, with his true identity only being confirmed a month later through DNA matching with his son, Kim Han-sol. Within a matter of days, Malaysian authorities apprehended two women identified through CCTV footage – Đoàn Thị Hương, a 28-year-old Vietnamese citizen, and Siti Aisyah, a 25-year-old Indonesian.
Both women insisted they believed they were taking part in an innocent practical joke for a TV programme, yet faced murder charges regardless – a crime punishable by death under Malaysia’s legal system. During their testimony, they described being approached individually, months prior to the attack, by men purporting to be Japanese, Chinese or South Korean television producers, who recruited them to surprise members of the public in locations such as shopping centres or hotels by briefly touching their faces to capture their reactions.
Police enquiries confirmed Aisyah had actually carried out comparable “pranks” on no fewer than 10 separate occasions, whilst Hương had done so four times. Each woman was offered US$100 for the airport operation. Investigators identified the primary suspects orchestrating the assassination as North Korean nationals, including an individual named Ri Ji-u, who appeared in Aisyah’s mobile contacts under the pseudonym “James.”
Following the attack, airport CCTV footage captured the women washing their hands in airport toilets – instructions consistent with handling VX residue. Prosecutors ultimately accepted the women had genuinely been unknowingly exploited as delivery mechanisms for the nerve agent. Each carried one non-lethal component which, when combined, became lethal.
Years afterwards, in March 2019, Aisyah’s murder charge was dropped following a request from the Indonesian government. Hương was jailed but her charge was subsequently reduced – she pleaded guilty to causing hurt with dangerous weapons. She was released in May 2019.
As anticipated, global diplomacy and media attention swiftly turned towards North Korea, as four North Korean men – later identified as intelligence agents – were captured on CCTV departing Malaysia just hours after being in close proximity to the incident. They separated, travelling through Jakarta, Dubai and Vladivostok before reaching North Korean capital Pyongyang.
North Korea did not accept responsibility, however, and claimed Kim died of a heart attack. Malaysian police dismissed the claims, and stated they were working with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons when identifying the lethal substance used in the attack.
Kim Jong-nam had been living outside his homeland since 2003, and was vocally disapproving of his family’s authoritarian rule. Intelligence officials from South Korea revealed his younger sibling Kim Jong Un had issued a permanent directive for his elimination, and asserted this wasn’t their first assassination attempt.
In 2019, the Wall Street Journal disclosed Kim Jong-nam had been working as an informant for the CIA, which strengthened suspicions that his killing was orchestrated by the state.
The murder triggered what remains, even now, amongst the most serious diplomatic standoffs in either North Korean or Malaysian history. The Southeast Asian nation scrapped visa-free access for North Koreans and ejected their ambassador – whilst Pyongyang prevented Malaysian nationals from departing North Korea.
When Kim Jong-nam’s remains were handed over to his relatives, at their behest, relations began to thaw.
The episode provoked worldwide condemnation, with South Korean authorities characterising it as proof of Kim Jong Un’s “reign of terror,” and the United States redesignating North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism – citing Kim Jong-nam’s murder amongst the justifications for the classification.
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