Kuala Lumpur – Two female suspects in custody over the killing of Kim Jong Nam, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s estranged half brother, will appear in court in Malaysia on Wednesday, Malaysia’s attorney general said.
Both women will be charged under Section 302 of the Malaysian penal code, which deals with “punishment for murder,” Attorney General Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Haji Mohamed Apandi Ali told dpa on Tuesday.
Doan Thi Huong, a 29-year-old Vietnamese woman, and Siti Aishah, a 25-year-old Indonesian woman, will be charged in Sepang Magistrate Court, he said.
The women allegedly poisoned Kim by wiping a highly toxic chemical nerve agent on his face at Kuala Lumpur’s international airport on February 13.
The VX nerve agent allegedly used in the attack is classified as a weapon of mass destruction by the United Nations.
The Indonesian suspect has said she thought she was carrying out a prank for a television show, and that the poisonous liquid given to her was baby oil, Indonesian embassy officials have said.
Also Tuesday, Pyongyang sent a diplomatic delegation to Malaysia seeking the body of Kim Jong Nam.
Ri Tong Il, the former North Korean deputy ambassador to the United Nations who was among those dispatched to Kuala Lumpur, said the purpose of his visit was “to discuss the body of the deceased DPRK citizen who died in Malaysia.”
He also intended “to question the arrest of the DPRK citizen” in relation to the case, he said outside the North Korean embassy.
On Sunday, Malaysia’s health minister told reporters that the deadly chemical killed Kim within 15 to 20 minutes.
“The doses were so high, it was so fast and happened all over the body … that it affected his heart and lungs,” Health Minister Subramaniam Sathasivam said.
Malaysian police are still searching for seven more North Koreans believed to be linked to the killing, including a diplomat in the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur and an airline worker with Air Koryo, the state national airline.
-dpa
