’Highly toxic nerve agent killed Kim Jong–m’

Kuala Lumpur, Feb 24: A highly–toxic agent was used in the

assassition of Kim Jong–m, the estranged half–brother of North

Korean leader Kim Jong–un, the Malaysian police said on Friday. Kim died

last week after a suspected poisoning while on his way to catch a

flight to Macau from the Kuala Lumpur Airport. Police chief Khalid Abu

Bakar said in a statement that the chemical was identified as the VX

nerve agent and was found on swabs taken from Kim’s eyes and face, The

Star newspaper reported. The nerve agent used to kill Kim is considered

an extremely toxic substance and is classified as a weapon of mass

destruction by the UN. Bakar said that one of the two women who staged

the attack became unwell as a result of poisoning from the same

chemical.

The authorities said they intend to decontamite the Kuala Lumpur

Airport and areas the suspects were known to have visited, according to

the report. Bakar said other exhibits were still under alysis and that

the police were investigating how the banned substance might have

entered Malaysia. “If the amount of the chemical brought in was small,

it would be difficult for us to detect,” he said. According to the

police chief, a Vietmese woman and a Indonesian woman wiped a liquid

on Kim’s face and later washed their hands and fled the scene. His body

remains in the hospital’s mortuary, amid a diplomatic dispute over who

should claim it. Malaysia said it was clearly an attack by North Korean

agents. Four people are in custody, including one North Korean and the

two women Kim interacted with at the airport, according to reports.

Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said that according

to embassy documents the body was of North Korean leader Kim Jong–un’s

half brother, but North Korea’s ambassador to Malaysia denied the dead

man’s identity. Pyongyang said that Malaysia was responsible for the

death of one of its citizens. It also accused Malaysia of trying to

politicise the return of his body, saying its insistence on securing D

samples from Kim’s family before handing the body over was “absurd”.

(IANS)