Two women are suspected of using VX nerve agent to kill Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, at Kuala Lumpur’s airport.
Two women accused of smearing a banned nerve agent on the face of the estranged half brother of North Korea’s leader pleaded not guilty as their trial began Monday in the Feb. 13 death at a crowded Malaysian airport terminal.
Siti Aisyah of Indonesia and Doan Thi Huong of Vietnam are suspected of using VX nerve agent to kill Kim Jong Nam at Kuala Lumpur’s airport. The women say they thought they were playing a harmless prank for a hidden-camera TV show.
An airport doctor testified that Kim died rapidly, with his blood pressure and pulse first soaring and then plunging.
After the charges were read to the women in their native languages at Malaysia’s High Court, they shook their heads “no” when asked whether they were guilty.
The pair are the only suspects in custody in a killing that South Korea’s spy agency said was part of a five-year plot by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to kill an older brother he reportedly had never met.
Police say four North Koreans suspected of involvement left the country the day of the attack.
