USA TODAY International Edition
Duped ‘ pranksters,’ toxin killed Kim Jong Nam in minutes
Officials piece together bizarre assassination
The estranged half- brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was swiftly overwhelmed by paralysis and died within 20 minutes after being daubed with a nerve agent at a Malaysian airport two weeks ago, the Malaysian health minister said Sunday.
The two women accused of the bizarre crime say they were duped by North Korean men who told them the "attack" on Kim Jong Nam was a harmless prank for a reality TV show, authorities said.
Kim Jong Nam died Feb. 13 after two women wiped the substance on his face while he was checking in for a flight at the Kuala Lumpur airport. The substance was identified last week as the VX nerve agent, classified as a weapon of mass destruction by the United Nations.
"The dose was so high it affected the heart, lungs, affected everything. It only requires 10 milligrams to be absorbed into the system" to cause death, Health Minister Subramaniam Sathasivam told the Malaysian National News Agency.
Subramaniam said the autopsy report would be submitted to the police. He said the medical staff who treated Kim Jong Nam had shown no symptoms of a medical problem, but they will be monitored for two or three weeks.
Malaysian officials say four North Korean men provided the agent to the women, who are from Indonesia and Vietnam. The women were arrested, but the men apparently fled the country.
Indonesia’s deputy ambassa- dor, Andriano Erwin, told the Associated Press and other news outlets that the Indonesian woman, Siti Aisyah, claims she was paid the equivalent of $ 90 for what she believed was a harmless prank for a reality show.
Police official Abdul Samah Mat said Aisyah vomited in a taxi on the way from the airport after the attack but is no longer ill. It was not clear if the suspects were given antidotes so the nerve agent wouldn’t kill them, he said.
Kim Jong Nam, who was 46 according to a police report, was the eldest son of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, the father of Kim Jong Un, 33. After falling out of favor with his father, Kim Jong Nam had lived in exile in Macau, a Chinese island known as a gambling mecca.