New details around the mysterious death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un‘s half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, continue to be uncovered. South Korean spies initially accused Kim Jong-un for ordering the assassination of his half-brother, who had been living in exile in the Chinese territory of Macau with his wife under the protection of the Chinese government. Kim Jong-nam had been vocal in his criticism of his half-brother’s regime, feeding into the rumors of Kim Jong-un’s extreme paranoia.
The plot thickened when one of the women who was accused of involvement in the assassination claimed that she was “duped into thinking” that she was participating in a television prank. The woman, Siti Aisyah, had been paid to spray men in the face with water as an airport prank and had no idea that the spray bottle used on Kim Jong-nam was filled with harmful chemicals. In a new report by the New York Times, the substance used to kill Kim Jong-nam was discovered to be VX Nerve Agent, which is classified as a chemical weapon.
According to Khalid Abu Bakar, the national police chief, “the substance was listed as a chemical weapon under the Chemical Weapons Conventions of 1997 and 2005.” Samples were obtained from Kim Jong-nam’s skin and eyes, and the analysis revealed that Ethyl S-2-diisopropylaminoethyl methylphosphonothiolate (the chemical name for VX Nerve Agent) was the cause of death.
North Korea had previously denied any involvement in the assassination, instead placing the blame on Malaysian authorities working under the behest of South Korea. The details of this incident continue to get stranger and stranger, and it seems like this investigation is far from over.
(Via The New York Times)