Kim Jong Un’s poisoned sibling had antidote

Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, might have been carrying with him a potential antidote to the banned VX nerve agent that caused his death at a Malaysian airport this year.

That might suggest the 45-year-old Kim had forewarning, perhaps from a foreign intelligence agency, that he might be subject to an assassination attempt using chemical weapons.

Details of the antidote were revealed last week at the Malaysian High Court, where two women are accused of smearing the VX agent over the elder Kim’s face as he entered an airport terminal in Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 13. Attorneys for the two say they were duped into carrying out the attack, which is widely believed to have been instigated by North Korean agents in a bid to remove a potential rival to Kim Jong Un.

Doctors ruled that the cause of death was “acute VX nerve-agent poisoning,” referring to the banned substance also known as N-2-Diisopropylamino Ethyl methylphosphonothioate.

According to local media, a government toxicologist serving as a witness for the prosecution told the court Wednesday that Kim had been carrying 12 bottles of atropine antidote in his bag when he was killed.

However, an expert said Kim’s plan to use an antidote was also fatally flawed.

“Atropine by itself is not an effective antidote for VX poisoning,” said Matthew Meselson, a professor of biochemistry at Harvard University and a board member of the Center for Arms Control and NonProliferation. Meselson said auto- injectors supplied by the U.S. Army to combat nerve- agent poisoning contain not only atropine but also pralidoxime, another agent that helps prevent VX’s toxic effects.