Kim killed by banned VX nerve agent
Substance a weapon of mass destruction
KUALA LUMPUR: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s half brother was assassinated with a lethal nerve agent manufactured for chemical warfare and listed by the UN as a weapon of mass destruction, Malaysian police said yesterday.
Releasing a preliminary toxicology report on Kim Jong-nam’s murder at Kuala Lumpur airport, police revealed the poison used by the assassins was the odourless, tasteless and highly toxic nerve agent VX.
Traces of VX were detected on swabs of the dead man’s face and eyes, police said. Leaked CCTV footage from the Feb 13 murder shows the portly Kim being approached by two women who appear to push something in his face.
“Our preliminary finding of the chemical that caused the death of Kim Chol was VX nerve,” said Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar. Kim Chol is the name on the passport found on the victim, but a Malaysian official previously confirmed he is North Korea leader Jong-un’s older half brother.
Just a tiny drop of the agent is enough to fatally damage a victim’s central nervous system.
One of the two women suspects who remain in custody fell ill after the brazen killing, with police saying yesterday she had been vomiting.
National police chief Khalid Abu Bakar added atomic energy experts would sweep the airport’s busy terminal where the Cold War-era attack took place for traces of the toxin, the most deadly chemical agent ever developed, as well as other locations the women passed through.
If VX was used, it could have contaminated not only the airport but any place else Kim had been, including medical facilities and the ambulance he was transported in. The nerve agent, which has the consistency of motor oil, can take days or even weeks to evaporate.
Mr Khalid added detectives would look for the source of the VX.
“We are investigating how it entered the country,” he said.
However he added that “if the amount of the chemical brought in was small, it would be difficult for us to detect”.
Mr Khalid has previously said the woman who ambushed 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,” Mr Khalid said earlier this week. “She was very aware that it was toxic and that she needed to wash her hands.”
The case has perplexed toxicologists, who question how the two women could have walked away unscathed after handling a powerful poison, even if — as Malaysian police say — the women were instructed to wash their hands right after the attack.
Dr Bruce Goldberger, a leading toxicologist who heads the forensic medicine division at the University of Florida, said even a tiny amount of VX nerve agent — equal to a few grains of salt — is capable of killing.
It can be administered through the skin and there is an antidote that can be administered by injection.
US medics and military personnel carried kits with them on the battlefield during the Iraq war in case they were exposed to the chemical weapon.
“It’s a very toxic nerve agent. Very, very toxic,” he said. “I’m intrigued that these two alleged assassins suffered no ill effect from exposure to VX. It is possible that both of these women were given the antidote.”
He said symptoms from VX would generally occur within seconds or minutes and could last for hours starting with confusion, possible drowsiness, headache, nausea, vomiting, runny nose and watery eyes. Prior to death, there would likely be convulsions, seizures, loss of consciousness and paralysis.
VX is banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention, which North Korea never signed.
The only known use of VX is as a chemical warfare agent. The US government’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes it as the “most potent” of all nerve agents.
“It is possible that any visible VX liquid contact on the skin, unless washed off immediately, would be lethal,” the CDC said on its website.
A leading regional security expert said it would not have been difficult to smuggle VX into Malaysia in a diplomatic pouch. They are not subject to regular customs checks.
North Korea has 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 Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research.
The leaked CCTV footage shows Kim asking for help from airport staff, who direct him to a clinic, after he is ambushed. Police said he suffered a seizure and died before he reached hospital.
Detectives are holding three people — 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 have acknowledged that his diplomatic status prevents them from questioning him unless he surrenders himself.
However, a North Korean official outside Pyongyang’s Kuala Lumpur embassy said yesterday Malaysia had not submitted a request to speak to Mr Hyon, despite the police chief earlier saying the embassy would be asked for assistance.
North Korea’s state media on Thursday launched a ferocious assault on Malaysia for “immoral” handling of the case and for playing politics with the corpse.
North Korea has never acknowledged the victim as the estranged brother of leader Kim Jong-un and the lengthy KCNA dispatch avoided any reference to the dead man’s identity, calling him only “a citizen” of North Korea “bearing a diplomatic passport”.
North Korea is believed by outside experts to have the capacity to produce up to 4,500 tonnes of chemical weapons during a typical year, which it could increase to 12,000 tonnes per year during a period of crisis. Its current inventory has been estimated at 2,500 to 5,000 tonnes.
It is suspected of being particularly focused on mustard, phosgene, sarin and V-type chemical agents — substances including VX that are designed to poison through contact and remain lethal for long periods of time.
The North’s development of such agents has been of special concern because of fears it might try to put them in artillery shells for an attack on South Korea’s capital, potentially threatening the lives of millions.