Kuala Lumpur – Autopsy results on Kim Jong Nam, estranged half brother to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, showed that the lethal nerve agent VX killed him within 15 to 20 minutes, the Malaysian government said on Sunday.
Kim was allegedly poisoned by two people, an Indonesian woman and Vietnamese woman, who wiped the highly toxic chemical agent on his face at Kuala Lumpur’s international airport on February 13.
The Indonesian suspect, Siti Aishah, believed she was carrying out a prank for a television show and thought that the poisonous liquid given to her was baby oil, Indonesian embassy officials have said.
A hazmat team conducts checks inside Kuala Lumpur Internatinal Airport 2 (KLIA2) airport terminal at Sepang, Malaysia, 26 February 2017. (Credit Image: © Mat Zain/NurPhoto via ZUMA Press) Photo: Mat Zain/Zuma
Kim alerted airport workers to the incident, according to CCTV pictures, and was taken to a medical clinic in the airport, where he fainted.
“He died in the ambulance … I would think it was about from the time of application 15 to 20 minutes,” Health Minister S Subramaniam told reporters on Sunday.
“The doses were so high it was so fast and happened all over the body … that it affected his heart and lungs,” Subramaniam explained.
He said only 10 milligrams of the substance needed to be absorbed into the system to be lethal, adding that he assumed therefore a higher dosage was used to kill Kim.
Subramaniam says the challenge investigators are now facing is obtaining a DNA sample from a next-of-kin in order to officially identify Kim.
If a DNA sample cannot be acquired, then Subramaniam’s team can turn to other identifiers such as dental records and body markings.
Malaysian police are searching for seven more North Koreans believed to be linked to the murder, including a diplomat in the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur and an airline worker.
-dpa
