Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Malaysian Attorney General Mohamed Apandi Ali has announced Siti Aisyah and Doan Thi Huong will be formally charged tomorrow with the murder of Kim Jong Nam, who was killed in Kuala Lumpur International Airport on February 13.

After weeks of speculation, both the U.S. and South Korean authorities have stated Kim was the target of a political assassination on the orders of the North Korean government, which is currently headed by his half-brother, Kim Jong Un. North Korea has continued to deny involvement, calling these “false reports.”

CCTV footage showed Kim Jong Nam was approached in the airport by two women, one of whom distracted him while the other applied a VX nerve agent, which is classified as a weapon of mass destruction by the United Nations. He died on the way to the hospital. Both Siti Aisyah and Doan Thi Huong have stated they thought they’d been hired to spray Kim with harmless baby oil for a televised prank show, but the Malaysian police say they do not believe this.

South Korean foreign minister Yung Byung-se told the press North Korea has large stockpiles of VX and other agents, saying, “The recent assassination is a wake-up call to all of us to North Korea’s chemical weapons capability and its intent to actually use them.”

In other developments, North Korean diplomats arrived in Malaysia today to negotiate the release of one of their citizens, Ri Jong Chol, who was arrested shortly after Doan and Aisyah, and to claim the remains, which they still assert may not be those of Kim Jong Nam. Malaysian authorities have said they will not release the remains without a Kim family DNA sample, promising police protection to any of Kim’s relatives who come to Malaysia to provide one.

Malaysian authorities are still pursuing seven other suspects, all North Koreans, some affiliated with the North Korean government.

Siti Aisyah and Doan Thi Huong may see trial as early as two months from now.