Trial begins for 2 women accused of assassination
ALAM, Malaysia — Two women accused of smearing a banned nerve agent on the face of the estranged half brother of North Korea’s leader pleaded not guilty as their trial began Monday in the Feb. 13 assassination at a crowded Malaysian airport terminal.
Siti Aisyah of Indonesia and Doan Thi Huong of Vietnam are suspected of using VX nerve agent to kill Kim Jong Nam at Kuala Lumpur’s airport. The women say they thought they were playing a harmless prank for a hidden-camera TV show.
After the charges were read to the women in their native languages at Malaysia’s High Court, they shook their heads “no” when asked if they were guilty.
The two women are the only suspects in custody in a killing that South Korea’s spy agency said was part of a five-year plot by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to kill a brother he reportedly never met. Police say four North Koreans suspected of involvement left the country on the day of the attack. Three others who holed up inside North Korea’s embassy were allowed to leave in a deal with Pyongyang to ease tensions, despite MalaySHAH sia’s anger at the use of a chemical weapon on its territory.
Kim, who was 45 or 46, was the eldest son of the family that has ruled North Korea since its founding, yet he reportedly fell out of favor in 2001 when he was caught trying to enter Japan on a false passport, saying he wanted to visit Tokyo Disneyland.