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Kim Jong-nam: two women to be charged with murder Kim Jong-nam: North Korean diplomats visit Malaysia as women face charges
(about 2 hours later)
The two women accused of killing the half-brother of North Korea’s dictator with a nerve agent at Kuala Lumpur airport will be charged with murder, Malaysia’s attorney general has said. A high-level North Korean delegation has arrived in Kuala Lumpur as Malaysia announced it will charge an Indonesian and a Vietnamese woman with the murder of Kim Jong-nam, the exiled half-brother of North Korea’s leader.
Mohamed Apandi Ali said Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong will be charged on Wednesday and would face a mandatory death sentence if convicted. The killing, described by the US and South Korea as a political assassination, has led to a diplomatic meltdown between Malaysia and North Korea, which has repeatedly tried to block the investigation and denied that Kim Jong-nam was murdered.
According to Indonesian authorities, Aisyah has said she was paid $90 (£72) to take part in what she believed was a prank. Malaysian police claim she and Huong knew what they were doing. The visiting delegation includes Ri Tong-il, the former North Korean deputy ambassador to the United Nations. He told reporters on Tuesday that the diplomats were in Malaysia to seek the retrieval of the body and the release of another arrested suspect, a North Korean national.
Two other suspects in the killing of Kim Jong-nam on 13 February have been arrested: a Malaysian who is out on bail and a North Korean who remains in custody. Asked if the North Korean would be charged, Apandi said it depends on the outcome of the investigations. Ri Tong-il added that the delegation also sought the “development of friendly relationships” between North Korea and Malaysia.
Authorities are seeking a further seven North Korean suspects, four of whom fled the country the day of Kim’s death and are believed to be back in North Korea. Malaysian police say the two female suspects rubbed VX, the world’s most deadly nerve agent, on Kim Jong-nam’s face in an assault recorded by airport security cameras on 13 February.
Kim’s killing took place amid crowds of travellers at Kuala Lumpur’s airport and appeared to be a well-planned attack. Malaysian authorities say North Koreans put the deadly nerve agent VX on Aisyah and Huong’s hands, who then placed the toxin on Kim’s face. Kim died on the way to a hospital, within about 20 minutes of the attack. He was the exiled elder half-brother of the North Korean ruler, Kim Jong-un. The pair will be charged on Wednesday under section 302 of the penal code, which carries the death penalty, the attorney general, Mohamed Apandi Ali, said.
South Korean politicians said on Monday that the country’s National Intelligence Service told them in a private briefing that four of the North Koreans identified as suspects were from the Ministry of State Security, the North’s spy service. Both of the accused have pleaded that they had been duped, believing the assault to be a prank for a reality TV show. The Indonesian suspect, Siti Aisyah, said she was paid $90 (£72), an Indonesian official has said.
Apandi said the North Korean in custody, named Ri Jong Chol, would not be charged yet. His remand period ends on Friday.
Malaysian police are looking for seven other North Koreans, including a senior diplomat, who they say are linked to the death. Four North Korean suspects left on the day of the killing for Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, police said.
South Korean politicians said on Monday that the country’s national intelligence service had told them in a private briefing that four of the North Koreans identified as suspects were from the ministry of state security, the North’s spy service.
North Korea has not acknowledged the dead man is Kim-Jong-nam but its ambassador, Kang Chol, has repeatedly demanded no autopsy take place and accused Malaysia of acting in a deceiving manner.
Malaysia’s foreign minister, Anifah Aman, has responded by warning Kang that he would be thrown out of the country if he continued to “spew lies” over the investigation.
In a report from North Korea’s state-run KCNA news agency on Friday, the government said Malaysia had broken international law by conducting autopsies on a diplomatic passport holder and withholding the body.
“This proves that the Malaysian side is going to politicise the transfer of the body in utter disregard of international law and morality and thus attain a sinister purpose,” it said.
Kim, who had criticised his half-brother in the past, had been living in the Chinese territory of Macau.
Police say the Indonesian suspect, Siti Aishah, vomited in the taxi after the attack, possibly due to the effects of VX on her hands. The Vietnamese suspect, Doan Thi Huong, stayed at the cheapest room in a hotel near the airport before the attack and carried a wad of cash.
After the assault, Kim stumbled into a clinic, complaining of pain in his face and dizziness. He died within 15-20 minutes, Malaysia’s health minister has said.
VX nerve agent is a banned chemical substance classified by the UN as a weapon of mass destruction.
Despite the poisoning, Malaysia has insisted the killing poses no danger to the public and has declared its international airport a “safe zone”. Authorities have said there have been no anomalies in medical cases reported at the airport clinic since the incident.
Police are also searching other locations in Kuala Lumpur that suspects may have visited, including raiding an apartment in an upscale suburb earlier this week to check for any traces of unusual chemicals.
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report