N. Korea may have used VX to kill leader’s brother

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA » Was it a poorly executed assassination or did North Korea want to showcase its stockpile of banned chemical weapons?

The use of the highly toxic VX warfare agent to kill the estranged half brother of North Korea’s leader has raised questions about Pyongyang’s real motives in one of the strangest killings the world has seen.

Some say North Korea, in allegedly bringing a U.N.classified weapon of mass destruction to kill a man at a busy international airport, intended to show the world what it can do with chemical weapons.

But other experts believe it’s unlikely that North Korea wanted VX to be discovered. There’s no reason for Pyongyang to risk taking another hit when it’s already under heavy international sanctions over its nuclear program. It’s also doubtful that the country would be suddenly willing to showcase its chemical weapons as a deterrent when it has never acknowledged their existence, the experts say.