Daily Record

WMD nerve agent was used to kill Kim brother

VX poison blamed as bikini picture of suspect emerges

- JEREMY ARMSTRONG reporters@dailyrecor­d.co.uk

THE brother of North Korean tyrant Kim Jong-un was killed by VX – the most toxic nerve agent in the world.

Police in Malaysia confirmed that Kim Jong-nam, 46, collapsed and died after two women allegedly wiped the highly poisonous substance across his face.

The developmen­t came as a picture emerged of Vietnamese woman Doan Thi Huong – who has been arrested over the murder – posing in a bikini during a motor show in Hanoi last year.

One of the women vomited after the attack because of her exposure to VX, which is classified as a weapon of mass destructio­n by the UN.

A 100th of a gram can kill within 30 minutes and a drop on a cloth would have been enough to take Jong-nam’s life.

Experts say its use proves the playboy prince was assassinat­ed on the orders of his half-brother after he criticised the secretive communist regime in 2012.

Interpol will now be asked to help trace seven North Koreans linked to the murder, including a diplomat and an airline official said to be in hiding in the country’s embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

The hermit state has accused Malaysia of having “sinister” purposes and claimed Jong-nam died of a stroke – but police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said yesterday that VX had been detected in swabs taken from Jong-nam’s eyes and face.

He also confirmed one of the women suspects had fallen ill after the attack on January 13 at Kuala Lumpur airport.

The terminal where Jong-nam collapsed will be decontamin­ated along with areas the suspects are known to have visited.

Police are investigat­ing how the banned substance might have entered Malaysia.

Jong-nam’s body remains in a hospital mortuary despite an attempted break-in.

North Korea said any suggestion the country was involved in the murder was a “conspirato­rial racket” by old enemy South Korea.

 ?? Pic: Reuters ?? MURDERED Kim Jong-nam was poisoned with the nerve agent VX SUSPECT Doan Thi Huong poses in a frilly bikini at a car show in Vietnam.
Pic: Reuters MURDERED Kim Jong-nam was poisoned with the nerve agent VX SUSPECT Doan Thi Huong poses in a frilly bikini at a car show in Vietnam.
 ??  ?? ATTACK Kim Jong-nam died minutes later
ATTACK Kim Jong-nam died minutes later

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