Accused women poisoned Jong-nam, prosecution says

SHAH ALAM: Prosecutors in the murder trial of Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korea's leader, said today that two women had rubbed toxic VX nerve agent in his face at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (klia2) on Feb 13.
Prosecutor Muhamad Iskandar Ahmad read a statement giving details of the murder at the start of the trial in the Shah Alam High Court.
"We will provide evidence that the dead victim was at (Kuala Lumpur International Airport) departure lounge when Siti Aisyah and Doan Thi Huong approached the dead victim and swiped a poisoned liquid on the face and eyes of the victim," he told the court.
"The evidence clearly showed that their action to swipe the poison known as VX caused the death of the victim."
The two women, Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, today pleaded not guilty to murdering Jong-nam.
They arrived at the heavily guarded court for the proceedings in handcuffs and wearing bulletproof vests.
The defendants were arrested just days after the killing of Jong-Nam on Feb 13 as he waited to board a plane to Macau at klia2.
Jong-Nam died an agonising death about 20 minutes after the hit, which was caught on airport CCTV as the VX – a chemical so deadly it is listed as a weapon of mass destruction – rapidly overcame his central nervous system.
Aisyah, 25, and Huong, 29, were led into the court in handcuffs. The murder charge was read to them in their native languages and interpreters assigned to the defendants indicated they were pleading not guilty.
About 200 police officers had been deployed to guard the court and the defendants arrived in a convoy of police cars with their sirens blaring.
The diminutive pair bowed their heads as they were led into court past waiting journalists.
Mysterious murder
The trial could at last shed light on the many unanswered questions surrounding the murder.
These range from how two women living precarious existences among Malaysia's army of migrant workers allegedly became involved in a high-profile assassination, to how a lethal nerve agent was deployed in an airport and killed Kim but harmed no one else.
South Korea accuses the North of being behind the murder of Kim Jong-Un's estranged half-brother, who had voiced criticism of the regime after falling from grace and going to live in exile overseas.
The North denies the allegation.
Prosecutors – who insist the women will get a fair trial – will lay out their case over two months and call 30 to 40 witnesses. The defence is then likely to be called.
The murder sparked an angry row between North Korea and Malaysia, which had been one of Pyongyang's few allies amid global alarm over the country's atomic weapons programme, with both countries expelling each other's ambassadors.
After the assassination sent the diplomatic temperature soaring between Pyongyang and Kuala Lumpur, tensions only eased when Malaysia agreed to return Kim's body in March.
An Asian Cup football qualifier between Malaysia and North Korea was postponed amid the crisis, and delayed this week for a third time after Kuala Lumpur imposed a ban on travel to North Korea due to surging nuclear tensions. — AFP