Kim died ‘within 20 minutes of attack’
Malaysian minister says North Korean suffered a very quick and painful death
KUALA LUMPUR // Kim Jongnam was dead within 20 minutes of being attacked and would have suffered a “very painful death” as his major organs shut down, Malaysia’s health minister said yesterday.
The estranged half- brother of the North Korean leader was killed with the nerve agent VX, police have revealed, after he was attacked at Kuala Lumpur airport on February 13. Two women can be seen pushing something into Kim’s face in leaked CCTV footage of the assassination.
“He died in the ambulance. He fainted in the clinic,” said health minister S Subramaniam.
“From the time of the onset of the attack he died within 15 to 20 minutes.”
Post-mortem examination results suggested the 45-year-old died from “very serious paralysis” due to a lethal nerve agent, Mr Subramaniam said.
Police are holding two women suspected of staging the attack, and a North Korean man.
They want to speak to seven other North Koreans including a senior embassy official, but four of the suspects fled Malaysia on the day of the murder.
VX is so deadly it is listed by the United Nations as a weapon of mass destruction. The scene of the killing at Kuala Lumpur International Airport was swept by civil defence personnel in hazardous material suits early on Sunday before being declared safe. “VX only requires 10 milligrams to be absorbed into the system to be lethal,” said Mr Subramaniam. “The absorption was so rapid that within a minutes the guy had symptoms.”
Nerve agents prevent the proper operation of an enzyme that acts as the body’s “off switch” for glands and muscles.
Without that switch, glands and muscles are constantly being stimulated. They eventually tire and become unable to sustain breathing.
“The muscle goes into a state of permanent contraction,” Mr Subramaniam said, adding that the dose was “so high” in this case the heart and lungs would have been rapidly affected.
Police had cordoned off parts of the airport after a pledge to check all locations the suspects were known to have visited. But the delay puzzled some travellers. Hariz Syafiq, 21, who was due to catch a flight said: “I’m worried a bit. Why didn’t they quarantine the airport?”
Both women suspected of carrying out the attack insisted they thought they were taking part in a prank video, although Malaysian police have said they knew what they were doing.
One of the two female suspects in custody, Indonesian Siti Aisyah, 25, reportedly told a diplomat on Saturday that she had been paid just 400 Malaysian ringgit (Dh330.5) for her role, adding she believed she was handling a liquid like “baby oil”.
The other woman, Vietnamese
‘ Kim Jong-nam died in the ambulance. He fainted in the clinic S Subramaniam Malaysia’s health minister
Doan Thi Huong, 28, said she had been tricked into killing Kim and thought she was taking part in a comedy prank video.
Indonesia’s deputy ambassador to Malaysia Andreano Erwin, who was granted consular access to Ms Siti, said she did not know Ms Huong.
Police have said one of the women was ill in custody. However, Mr Erwin said Ms Siti was physically healthy while Vietnamese officials said Ms Huong was “in stable health”. The news that VX was used in the attack angered Malaysia and brought condemnation from South Korea, which has blamed the North over Kim’s death.