'Lethal toxin' used for airport killing
Print Edition
NORTH Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s half-brother was assassinated with a lethal nerve agent manufactured for chemical warfare and listed by the United Nations as a weapon of mass destruction, Malaysian police said yesterday.
Releasing a preliminary toxicology report on Kim Jong Nam’s murder at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on February 13, police revealed the poison used by the assassins was the odorless, tasteless and highly toxic VX.
The news brought condemnation from South Korea, which slammed the use of the nerve agent as a “blatant violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and other international norms.” Experts in South Korea said yesterday that North Korea had up to 5,000 tons of chemical weapons stockpiled, including a supply of VX.
Kim died after being attacked at the airport by two women, seen on CCTV footage shoving something in his face. He suffered a seizure and died before reaching hospital.
An autopsy revealed traces of VX, a fast-acting toxin that sparks respiratory collapse and heart failure, on the dead man’s face and in his eyes. Tiny amounts of the poison are enough to kill an adult, whether inhaled or absorbed through the skin.
“I am outraged that the criminals used such a dangerous chemical in a public area,” said Environment Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar
It “could have caused mass injuries or even death to other people.”
One of the two women arrested after the attack fell ill in custody, police said, adding she had been vomiting.
National police chief Khalid Abu Bakar has previously said the woman who attacked Kim from behind clearly knew she was carrying out a poison attack, dismissing claims that she thought she was taking part in a TV prank.
“The lady was moving away with her hands towards the bathroom,” Khalid said earlier this week. “She was very aware that it was toxic and that she needed to wash her hands.”
Khalid said yesterday experts would sweep the busy airport terminal where the attack took place for traces of the toxin as well as other locations the women had visited.
“We are investigating how (the VX) entered the country,” he told reporters.
He added that “if the amount of the chemical brought in was small, it would be difficult for us to detect.”
A leading regional security expert said it would not have been difficult to get VX into Malaysia in a diplomatic pouch, which are not subject to regular customs checks.
North Korea had previously used the pouches “to smuggle items including contraband and items that would be subjected to scrutiny if regular travel channels were used,” said Rohan Gunaratna, the head of the Singapore-based International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research.
Detectives are holding three people — two women from Indonesia and Vietnam, and a North Korean man, but want to speak to seven others, four of whom are believed to have fled to Pyongyang.
One man wanted for questioning, who is believed to be still in Malaysia, is senior North Korean embassy official Hyon Kwang Song. Police acknowledge that his diplomatic status prevents them from questioning him.
North Korea, which has not acknowledged the dead man’s identity, has vehemently protested at the investigation, saying Malaysia is in cahoots with its enemies.
Its ambassador Kang Chol has said Pyongyang “cannot trust” the Malaysian police to prosecute their probe fairly.
“The ambassador has been informed of the process involved (in the police investigation) but he continues to be delusional and spew lies and accusations against the government of Malaysia,” Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said.
A senior Malaysian government official said if Kang “repeats the baseless allegations, he will be expelled.”
The only known function of VX is as a chemical warfare agent and the American government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes it as the “most potent” of all nerve agents.
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