Korea Kim’s brother ‘ killed by girl spies who sprayed poison in face’
THE playboy half-brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un has been killed by female assassins, it was reported yesterday. Kim Jong-nam, who had branded his younger brother’s regime a ‘joke’, was apparently poisoned while waiting for a flight at a Malaysian airport and died on his way to hospital.
There were claims he had been attacked by two women – suspected North Korean agents – who sprayed a toxic chemical in his face. Other reports suggested the assassins held a cloth doused in chemicals in his face and burned his eyes, or stabbed him with a poisoned needle.
Those responsible fled in a taxi and were still at large last night, South Korean media claimed.
The apparent hit follows previous botched attempts to kill Jong-nam, 45, who was estranged from his 33year-old brother and regarded as a potential threat to his leadership.
It also comes days after international condemnation of North Korea’s latest missile test.
The unidentified agents are said to have attacked Jong-nam on Monday after taking advantage of a security loophole between his bodyguards and local police, which left him momentarily unguarded at Kuala Lumpur airport. ‘ The deceased ... felt like someone grabbed or held his face from behind ... he felt dizzy,’ Malaysian police official Fadzil Ahmat said. ‘So far there are no suspects, but we have started investigations and are looking at a few possibilities to get leads.’ He said a post-mortem examination would be carried out, adding: ‘We don’t know if there was a cloth or needles.’
Local police chief Abu Samah Mat said Jong-nam went to the airport clinic complaining that he had been sprayed with a liquid, and died on his way to Putrajaya Hospital south of the capital.
Would-be North Korean assassins have been caught with poisoned needles in the past – which can be hidden inside pens – and an anonymous US official said a similar device could not be ruled out.
South Korea’s foreign ministry could not confirm the allegations last night, and several previous reports of executions involving supposed enemies of the North Korean state have proved unreliable.
Jong-nam was the eldest son of former leader Kim Jong-il from his affair with South Korean-born actress Song Hye-rim. He was once seen as heir apparent but fell out of favour after an embarrassing failed attempt in 2001 to visit Tokyo Disneyland on a forged passport.
Jong-nam has since lived in virtual exile, mainly in the Chinese territory of Macau, as well as Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and France. Malaysia is one of the only countries North Koreans can visit without a visa – although Jong-nam was using a passport with a false name for the flight back to Macau.
It was claimed he funded a lavish lifestyle thanks to benefits from building projects set up by his uncle Jang Song-thaek, who has since been executed by the regime.
After Jong-nam’s brother became North Korean leader following the death of their father in December 2011, the exile told a Japanese newspaper that the new regime was ‘a joke to the outside world’.
He added: ‘The Kim Jong-un regime will not last long. Without reforms, North Korea will collapse.’ He also claimed he opposed the hereditary transition of power. Cheong Seong-jang, a researcher at Seoul’s Sejong Institute thinktank, said it was possible Jongnam had been assassinated for damaging his brother’s authority. He added that the Reconnaissance General Bureau, North Korea’s intelligence agency, had been ‘closely watching’ Jong-nam.
Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Dongguk University in Seoul, said Jong-nam had occasionally been the subject of speculation that he could replace his brother.
‘Loyalists may have wanted to get rid of him,’ he added.
North Korean spies reportedly attempted to kill Jong-nam in Macau in 2011, resulting in a bloody shoot-out with his bodyguards.
‘Grabbed him from behind’