A paranoid dictator’s estranged brother. Two young female assassins. A crowded international airport. And a mysterious poison that kills within hours. It i
KUALA LUMPUR – A paranoid dictator’s estranged brother. Two young female assassins. A crowded international airport. And a mysterious poison that kills within hours.
It is the perfect recipe for a thrilling cloak-and-dagger spy novel. Except some — or possibly even all — of this tale could be true in the apparent assassination of Kim Jong Nam, the older half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. And just like similar intriguing cases from the past, the public is hanging on to every detail because there is just something about murder by poison that captivates.
“A gun announces its mischief; poison can sneak in with a sip of champagne,” said Robert Thompson, a pop culture expert at Syracuse University. “The question isn’t why we are fascinated with this latest story, it’s why wouldn’t we be?”
Still, speculation that Kim Jong Nam was killed by two young female “agents” at the busy Kuala Lumpur airport last Monday left even the most seasoned toxicology sleuths shaking their heads. Add in that the portly sibling was apparently sprayed in the face with a substance so potent it killed him before he could reach the hospital, and you have a scene straight out of a James Bond film.
Four people, including the two women — one Indonesian and the other traveling on a Vietnamese passport — have been detained. Conspiracy theories and speculation abound as police scramble to unravel what really happened to Kim Jong Nam, aged 45 or 46, the son of late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and a mistress. After falling out of favor with the family, the son lived for years in exile and was about to catch a flight to Macau when the attack took place. He sought help at the airport clinic after suddenly falling ill and died en route to the hospital. An autopsy has been performed, but the results have not been released.
If a chemical agent really was to blame, finding it may be the hardest part of all.
