Stooges or agents of evil?
Assassin suspects back at airport where dictator’s brother died in agony
THE end, when it came, was more bizarre and horrific than Kim Jongnam could have ever imagined.
Two attractive young woman, one in a “LOL” T-shirt, ran up behind him at an airport and wiped his face with a cloth for “a prank”.
Minutes later he was slumped in a chair, holding his head in agony as a deadly nerve agent raced through his system and a brain seizure took hold.
Then, frothing at the mouth and gasping for air, his organs shut down.
Kim Jong-nam, 46, had never known how, or when he would be murdered... but you can be sure he had imagined it many times in his nightmares.
As the older half-brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un he had lived his whole life with “a sword of Damocles” above his head – fearing the regime would kill him one day.
At Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur airport on February 13 they did and it was captured on CCTV.
And yesterday the two young women charged with the murder were taken back to the airport for a court visit during their high-profile trial.
PRANK
Malaysian nightclub hostess Siti Aisyah, 25, and Vietnamese-born Doan Thi Huong, 28, both deny poisoning him with the outlawed VX nerve agent.
They claim they were recruited by the makers of a Chinese prank show and thought they were playing a joke for hidden cameras.
Amid chaotic scenes, they were made to retrace their steps – this time handcuffed, wearing bulletproof vests and accompanied by armed guards.
They were pushed around in wheelchairs as part of the entourage of court officials, led by trial judge Azmi Ariffin, with more than 100 police officers and dozens of journalists.
Huong appeared unwell midway through, while Aisyah broke down.
The hit had been so brazen and bizarre it could only have been dreamed up by the war-mongering leader who had already executed his uncle, aunt and a string of “treacherous” ministers.
At least that’s what South Korean intelligence experts believe.
Kim Jong-nam was the illegitimate son of dad Kim Jong-il’s affair with a married actress. He grew up in hiding, a lonely child without any friends, moving with his mother to Moscow then Geneva. He went to a private school, claiming to be a diplomat’s son, made friends and learned English, French and Russian. Once his father was named official heir to Kim Il-Sung in 1988, Jongnam was called home to Pyonyang.
But he hated it and as his father was doting on his younger son, Jong-nam was allowed to marry and leave.
But in 2001 he was caught at Tokyo airport with a fake Dominican Republic
passport trying to go to Disneyland. He still worked for the government.
It was a massive embarrassment to his father and afterwards he was exiled from North Korea, leading a lavish but low-key life in gambling mecca Macau, protected by Chinese secret services.
He claimed he had no desire to become leader of North Korea and when his brother was named heir apparent, he gave an interview to Japanese TV saying he was “personally opposed to the third-generation succession.”
Jong-un viewed the statement as treasonous – but also believed his brother was jockeying for power.
Michael Madden, of website North Korea Leadership Watch, said: “Jongnam still had a power base and there was always a remote possibility he would take power.”
There are reports Jong-nam pleaded with his brother five years ago not to harm him or his family.
Soon after his death, the South China Morning Post quoted an unnamed friend saying: “He knew his life was at risk… and he was aware his brother was after him.” His paranoid brother Jong-un feared he had become a puppet of his enemies.
Former CIA analyst Sue Mi Terry said: “However improbable, there were always rumours that Kim Jong-nam could replace Kim Jong-un as the head of the regime at the behest of China or the US.”
Another North Korea expert said: “It’s a sign of supreme confidence that he can literally get away with murder.” The strangest theory about the assassination comes from Brad Glosserman, executive director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in the US.
He believes China removed Jongnam’s protection and allowed the assassination as a secret symbol of support to Pyongyang.
“This is proof they are not really out there to overthrow the regime,” he claimed.
Aisyah and Huong face the death penalty if convicted of the murder. They insist they are innocent victims of a cruel trick.
But Malaysian prosecutors say they were part of a plot by Jong-un to kill his brother, recruited by four agents who came to Malaysia days before the killing and then fled home to North Korea. Three other North Koreans, including a diplomat and a scientist, have also been implicated.
Forensic and chemical weapons experts said that VX had been found on Aisyah and Huong’s clothes while traces of the poison were also found under Huong’s fingernails.
Other scientific evidence presented in court suggests Jong-nam may have been poisoned by means other than the contaminated face cloth as traces of VX were found not just on his face and eyes but also in his blood, urine and on his clothing and luggage.
North Korea denies any involvement in the killing and insists the dead man is not Kim Jong-nam but Kim Choi – the name on his false passport.