Kim Jong-Nam Assassinated In Kuala Lumpur

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Kim Jong-Nam in 2011

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un's half-brother has reportedly been assassinated in Malaysia.

http://news.sky.com/story/north-korean-leader-kim-jong-uns-half-brother-assassinated-by-poisoned-needles-10767631

Kim Jong-Nam is believed to have been poisoned by two female Pyongyang agents at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Monday, according to a report by TV Chosun, citing Seoul government sources

The women used poisoned needles to kill him, according to the South Korean broadcaster.

The suspects immediately fled the scene in a taxi, it reported.

The 45-year-old was due to catch a flight to Macau, but was found ill at the airport and died on his way to hospital.

Kim Jong-Nam is the son of Song Hye-rim, a South Korean-born actress who is believed to have been a mistress of former North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.

He was a known advocate of reform in North Korea and was vocal about his opposition to the nation's dynastic succession policy.

Understood to be Kim Jong-Il's heir apparent as his eldest son, he was overlooked for the succession after a botched attempt to enter Japan in May 2001 on a false Dominican Republic passport.

He claimed he wanted to visit Disney's Tokyo resort, but the incident embarrassed his father, and the then North Korean leader was succeeded by Kim Jong-Un in December 2011.

Following the scandal, Kim Jong-Nam and his family virtually lived in exile in Macau, Singapore and China.

According to South Korean prosecutors, a North Korean detained as a spy in October 2012 admitted being involved in a 2010 plot to stage a hit-and-run car accident targeting Kim Jong-Nam in China.

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A police laboratory report released by the authorities in Malaysia has confirmed that Kim Jong-Nam was killed by a nerve agent applied to his face.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-39073389

Leaked CCTV footage of the attack at Kuala Lumpur airport showed that a woman approached him from behind and wiped a cloth across his face before running off. The lab report indicated that traces of the VX nerve agent were found on on a portion of the deceased's face.

The VX agent is one of a family of highly toxic nerve agents that were originally discovered in the early 1950s by chemists at the British company ICI who were studying the organo-phosphate group of pesticides. VX which is classified as a weapon of mass destruction resembles a viscous motor oil fluid and is fatal to humans in quantities as low as 10 milligrams when applied to the skin. It is an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor which kills by flaccid muscle paralysis and asphyxiation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VX_(nerve_agent)

Four people are under arrest in Malaysia, and another seven people of North Korean nationality who flew out of Malaysia on the day of the killing are being sought for questioning. Two women who are under arrest for carrying out the attack say they thought they were carrying out a prank for a reality TV show.

According to a Reuters report, South Korea has said that it believes the assassination was coordinated by a shadowy North Korean agency called the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB).

The RGB is North Korea's "premier intelligence organization", according to the United Nations, which sanctioned it in March last year for its role in North Korea's arms trade.

But given the high profile of Kim, who had spoken out publicly against his family's dynastic control, his murder could have been a joint operation between different agencies, said Michael Madden, an expert on the North Korean leadership.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-malaysia-kim-bureau-idUSKBN1622RY