Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korea’s leader, was killed by a highly toxic nerve agent, says Malaysia.
Mr Kim died last week after two women accosted him briefly in a check-in hall at a Kuala Lumpur airport.
Malaysian toxicology reports indicate he was attacked using “VX nerve agent”, which is classified as a weapon of mass destruction by the United Nations.
There is widespread suspicion that North Korea was responsible for the attack, which it fiercely denies.
It responded furiously to Malaysia’s insistence on conducting a post-mortem examination and has accused Malaysia of having “sinister” purposes.
Who was Kim Jong-nam?
The well-travelled and multilingual oldest son of late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, he was once considered a potential future leader. He has lived abroad for years and was bypassed in favour of his half-brother, Kim Jong-un.
How did he die?
A woman was seen in CCTV footage approaching Mr Kim and wiping something across his face. He sought medical help at the airport, saying someone had splashed or sprayed him with liquid.
He had a seizure and died on the way to hospital.
Who did it?
Malaysia says it was clearly an attack by North Korean agents. Four people are in custody, including one North Korean and the two women he interacted with at the airport. Seven North Koreans are being sought, including a diplomat.
Mr Kim died on the way to hospital shortly after the 13 February airport encounter. His body remains in a hospital mortuary, amid a diplomatic dispute over who should claim it.
Malaysia’s police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said on Friday that the presence of the nerve agent was detected in swabs taken from Mr Kim’s eyes and face by the Chemistry Department of Malaysia.
He said other exhibits were still under analysis and that police were investigating how the banned substance might have entered Malaysia.
“If the amount of the chemical brought in was small, it would be difficult for us to detect,” Reuters quoted him as saying.
One of the two women suspected of carrying out the attack had also shown symptoms, he said, and had been vomiting.
Mr Khalid said the airport and areas the suspects are known to have gone to would now be cleaned.
VX nerve agent: What to know
- The most potent of the known chemical warfare agents, it is a clear, amber-coloured, oily liquid which is tasteless and odourless.
- Works by penetrating the skin and disrupting the transmission of nerve impulses – a drop on the skin can kill in minutes. Low doses can cause eye pain, blurred vision, drowsiness and vomiting.
- It can be disseminated in a spray or vapour, or used to contaminate water, food, and agricultural products.
- VX can be absorbed into the body by inhalation, ingestion, skin contact, or eye contact.
- Clothing can carry VX for about 30 minutes after contact with the vapour, which can expose other people.
- Official chemical name is S-2 Diisoprophylaminoethyl methylphosphonothiolate and it is banned by the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention.
Bruce Bennett, a weapons expert at the research institute the Rand Corporation, told the BBC it would have taken only a tiny amount of the substance to kill Mr Kim.
It would have begun affecting his nervous system immediately, causing first shaking and then death within minutes.
Mr Khalid has previously said the fact the woman who accosted Mr Kim immediately went to wash her hands showed she was “very aware” that she was handling a toxin.
Mr Kim had been travelling on a passport under the name Kim Chol. North Korea has yet to confirm that the deceased was actually Kim Jong-nam.
On what seemed to be the first reference to the case in the North’s state media, Pyongyang said on Thursday only that Malaysia was responsible for the death of one of its citizens.
It also accused Malaysia of trying to politicise the return of his body, saying its insistence on securing DNA samples from Mr Kim’s family before handing the body over was “absurd”.
[BBC]
