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Kim Jong-nam killed after nerve agent wiped on face, Malaysia police say Kim Jong-nam assassination: Weapon of mass destruction VX nerve agent used to kill North Korean exile
(about 7 hours later)
Police in Malaysia have said the half-brother of North Korea's leader who was killed in a Kuala Lumpur airport had a nerve agent on his eye and face. A nerve agent classed as a weapon of mass destruction has been identified as the chemical used to kill Kim Jong-nam.
A statement from the inspector general of police said a preliminary analysis from the Chemistry Department of Malaysia identified the substance as "VX NERVE AGENT". Malaysian police said VX was wiped on the North Korean exile’s face at Kuala Lumpur International Murder by two women as he prepared to board a flight to Macau.
Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, died on 13 February shortly after two women smeared a substance on his face while he was checking in for a flight. Tasteless and odourless, the substance can be fatal in a dose of just 10mg through skin contact, making it deadlier than sarin.
Police have not said how the women were able to apply the nerve agent to Mr Kim's face and also avoid becoming ill themselves. After giddiness and nausea, exposure to VX quickly progresses to convulsions and respiratory failure before death, which can come within 15 minutes.
It is not known if they were wearing some sort of thin gloves or if washing their hands quickly removed the danger. Its lethality has sparked strict controls under UN resolutions and the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention, with the US, Russia and Syria previously known to be among the countries possessing it.
Police said earlier that the two attackers rubbed a liquid on Mr Kim's face before walking away and quickly washing their hands. Police are investigating whether it was brought into Malaysia or made there before allegedly being used by North Korean assassins.
He sought help from airport staff but died before he reached the hospital. Authorities intended to decontaminate the airport, along with other locations visited by suspects, amid concern VX could have evaporated into the air.
The seeming contradiction of a poison that could kill him quickly, but not sicken the attackers, has stumped outside experts. “We will get the experts from the atomic energy department to go to the location and sweep it to see if radioactive (material) is still there,” said police chief Khalid Abu Bakar told reporters.
Bruce Goldberger, a leading toxicologist who heads the forensic medicine division at the University of Florida, said some protective measures must have been in place if the women handled the substance without gloves. It was unclear whether VX contains any radioactive elements.
"It's also possible that the toxin was encapsulated, then activated when applied to the skin," he said before the latest police statement. Mr Kim, the half-brother of dictator Kim Jong-un, had been living in exile since 2003 after falling out of favour with his father, who had been lining up to succeed him as Supreme Leader.
"As additional information is provided to the media by the police, it seems more likely that a new or modified chemical or biological agent was utilised in the attack." Two women - one Vietnamese and the other Indonesian – are in custody along with a North Korean man. 
Malaysia's police chief said investigators wanted to question a North Korean embassy official about Mr Kim's death, saying he should co-operate if he had nothing to hide, despite having diplomatic immunity. Investigators are also seeking seven other North Koreans wanted in connection with the case, including a diplomat pleading immunity at the embassy in Kuala Lumpur.
Inspector general of police Khalid Abu Bakar said police had also asked Interpol to issue an alert for four North Korean men who left Malaysia the same day Mr Kim was attacked by the two women. Interpol has put an alert out to apprehend four suspects who are believed to have fled Malaysia on the day of the attack and police also hunting two other North Koreans believed to remain in Malaysia, including an employee at the state-owned airline Air Koryo.
The four men are believed to be back in North Korea, but police also want to question three other people still in Malaysia, including Hyon Kwang Song, a second secretary at the North Korean embassy. A chemical weapons analysis unit found VX, or S-2 Diisopropylaminoethyl methylphosphonothioate, present on swabs taken from Mr Kim’s eye and face.
"The foreign officer has got immunity so we have to follow protocol," Mr Khalid said. “Other exhibits are under analysis,” Mr Khalid said, adding that the two women were paid to carry out the assault and washed their hands before fleeing from the airport.
"If you have nothing to hide, you don't have to be afraid. You should co-operate." But he said one of them had suffered from the effects of the chemical and had been vomiting.
Mr Khalid acknowledged that Malaysia would not be able to question Mr Hyon if the embassy exercised its immunity privileges. Airport CCTV footage shows the moment of the assault, with Mr Kim later seen asking airport officials for medical help, and rubbing his eyes and stumbling as he entered a clinic. 
North Korea's official, state-controlled media mentioned the case for the first time on Thursday, saying Malaysia's investigation was full of "holes and contradictions" without acknowledging the victim was Mr Kim. Authorities said he complained of dizziness and died on the way to hospital.
The report from KCNA largely echoed past comments by North Korea's ambassador to Malaysia, but the publication of at least some news inside North Korea could be a sign of its concern over growing international speculation that Pyongyang dispatched a hit squad to kill Mr Kim. VX is outlawed except for “research, medical or pharmaceutical purposes” and can be manufactured as a liquid, cream or aerosol, but has no commercial uses and would need to be made in a highly sophisticated laboratory.
Long estranged from North Korea's leadership, Kim Jong Nam had lived outside the country for years, staying in Macau, Singapore and Malaysia. North Korea is believed to have the world's third-largest stockpile of chemical weapons, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative project, while South Korean analysts have identified sarin and VX as the focus of Pyongyang’s programme.
The two suspected attackers, and Indonesian woman and a Vietnamese woman, are in custody. Additional reporting by Reuters
AP