One of the women suspected of murdering Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, celebrated her 25th birthday at a Kuala Lumpur restaurant the night before the killing, footage obtained by CNN shows.
Siti Aisyah, an Indonesian citizen, is seen smiling awkwardly as people sang her “Happy Birthday”.
“And now the person next to me will become a (celebrity),” one friend says in the video she filmed that night, prompting Aisyah to laugh.
The scenes are in stark contrast to those shown on security footage from the next morning, February 13, when police say Aisyah and a Vietnamese woman, Doan Thi Huong, approached Kim Jong Nam as he passed through terminal 2 of Kuala Lumpur airport.
Police say they they smeared his face with VX nerve agent, one of the deadliest chemicals on earth. Some 20 minutes later, authorities say, Kim was dead.
‘Naive and easily manipulated’
The footage was filmed by Aisyah’s friends and given to CNN. Three days after the celebrations in the restaurant, Aisyah would be in custody along with Doan Thi Huong, from Vietnam. Police say the two women were identified in the airport security footage.
