2 women to be charged with Kim murder, says Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR: Two women arrested for the nerve agent assassination of Kim Jong-Nam are to be charged with his murder, Malaysia said Tuesday, as North Korea sent a senior diplomat to seek the return of the body.
The spectacular killing of Kim Jong-Un’s half-brother with VX, a fast-acting poison developed for warfare, sparked an international probe and lurid stories of Pyongyang’s Cold War-style tradecraft.
South Korea says its isolated neighbor was behind the assassination and claims the North’s agents engaged two outsiders to carry out the murder.
“They will be charged in court under Section 302 (murder) of the penal code,” Attorney General Mohamed Apandi Ali told AFP by text message, referring to the two suspects.
South Korea also called for “collective measures” to punish North Korea for using chemical weapons to kill Kim Jong-Nam.
The women, from Indonesia and Vietnam, will appear in court on Wednesday. If convicted, they could face death by hanging.
Both women have claimed they thought they were taking part in a practical joke.
Indonesian Siti Aisyah’s alleged accomplice, Doan Thi Huong, 28, from Vietnam, told Hanoi officials she had been tricked into killing Kim. Aisyah’s boyfriend Farid bin Jalaluddin and a fourth suspect, 46-year-old North Korean man Ri Jong-Chol, are also in custody.