The risk of proliferation of nerve agents to non-state actors is perhaps the most startling concern.
In an episode that evokes memories of Cold War era spy sagas, Kim Jong Nam – the half-brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un – appears to have been assassinated on February 13 at Kuala Lumpur’s airport in Malaysia.
Reports indicate that two female agents , with probable connections to North Korea’s security services, poisoned the estranged sibling with lethal toxins.
Malaysian authorities are also holding a North Korean suspect and have released the names of several North Korean suspects thought to have fled the country after the killing.
Meanwhile, there has been a diplomatic standoff between Kuala Lumpur and Pyongyang with both sides accusing the other of interference in the investigation.
There are a host of potential reasons why Kim Jong-un wanted to eliminate his seemingly harmless brother – but the most probable was his paranoia and ruthless pursuit of political legitimacy at home.
Kim Jong-nam’s murder follows a host of purges over the past few years, including the killing of Kim Jong-un’s uncle and top adviser Jang Song-thaek in 2013. The purges also fall in line with his marked up-tick in provocations aimed at enhancing the regime’s nuclear and missile capabilities.
This week, the plot has deepened as Malaysian authorities have indicated that Kim Jong-nam appeared to have been killed by the highly lethal VX nerve agent, a substance that is banned as a chemical weapon by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) .
This attack – if confirmed that it was conducted with a VX nerve agent – would be a game-changer. VX is a lethal agent that effectively shuts down your muscle system in a short period and causing muscle clenching, convulsions and eventually death.
Stockpiles of the substance, which used to be held by some states – including the United States and the Soviet Union – for potential military use, have been mostly eliminated as the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) bans the agent.
This incident raises a host of questions on how to deal with the incident as the assassination is not only an attack of terrorism but could be an act using WMDs- one of the deepest fears of the international community.
