Chinese Police Foil Plot To Assassinate Kim Jong Un"s Nephew

As the two women who fatally poisoned Kim Jong Nam with a toxic nerve agent face the gallows in a Malaysian murder trial, Bloomberg is reporting that Chinese police have broken up a plot purportedly masterminded in North Korea whereby a group of men were dispatched to Beijing to murder Jong Nam’s son, 22-year-old Kim Han Sol, who is also the nephew of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Since taking the reins of the North Korean state following the death of his father in 2011, Jong Un has readily murdered members of his family to eliminate any potential challenges to his rule. Chinese police arrested two of seven North Korean agents suspected of involvement with the plot.

Jong Un executed his uncle Jang Song Thaek in 2013 on charges of graft and factionalism. Earlier this month, the leader promoted his 28-year-old sister to the ruling party’s political wing, bringing her closer to the center of power, Bloomberg reported.

Kim Han Sol

Some agents are being interrogated in special facilities on the outskirts of Beijing, a South Korean newspaper reported without elaborating on whether the other five were arrested. China’s foreign ministry didn’t immediately respond to a faxed request for comment.

Kim Han Sol identified himself as the son of Kim Jong Nam – who was poisoned in February during a brazen attack at Kuala Lumpur airport – in a YouTube video released earlier this year. Kim Jong Nam was the eldest son of late North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

South Korean government officials have speculated that Kim Jong Un was behind the murder of his half-brother, a critic of his leadership who had lived outside the country for years. The Associated Press reported that attorneys in the trial of Jong Nam’s suspected assassins have sought to pin the blame for the assassination on four shadowy North Korean figures believed to have masterminded the murder plot.

Authorities in Malaysia said the two women charged with Kim Jong Nam’s murder used the chemical weapon VX in the attack, claiming they were trained to swipe the poison on the victim’s face and knew the substance was toxic. The pair have pleaded not guilty.

"Mystery Poison" Used To Murder Kim Jong Nam Revealed As VX Nerve Agent

What was until recently was a real-life reincarnation of the move "The International", just got a double dose of "The Rock" thrown in for good measure.

When yesterday we shared the most recent update in the bizarre assassination of Kim Jong Nam, the half brother of North Korea"s ruler, who was murdered in broad daylight inside Kuala Lumpur"s budget airline terminal, we reported that while the two women suspected in the fatal poisoning attack had coated their hands with "mystery" toxic chemicals which they then wiped on Nam"s face, a key question remained unanswered, namely what was the poison used to by the woman with the "LOL" shirt used to murder the North Korean scion.

As CBS reported previously, experts routinely tasked with finding answers in poisoning cases were stumped: what substance could have been used to kill the victim so quickly without sickening the women who apparently deployed it, along with anyone else nearby? Difficult, they said, but doable.

“It’s not an agent that could be cooked up in a hotel room. It’s going to take a lot of knowledge regarding the chemical in order to facilitate an attack like this,” said Bruce Goldberger, a leading toxicologist who heads the forensic medicine division at the University of Florida. He said a nerve gas or ricin, a deadly substance found in castor beans, could be possible. A strong opioid compound could also have been used, though that would likely have incapacitated the victim immediately.

“It would have to be cleverly designed in order to be applied in this fashion without hurting anyone else,” Goldberger said.

“The more unusual, the more potent, the more volatile a poison is, the less likely it is to be detected,” said Olif Drummer, a toxicologist at Australia’s Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine who has spent 40 years in the field. Khalid said the women knew they were handling poisonous materials and "were warned to take precautions." Surveillance footage showed both keeping their hands away from their bodies after the attack, he said, then going to restrooms to wash. Such details are unclear in video footage that has been released to media.

Well, moments ago the Malaysian police provided the answer, when it reported that the chemical substance used to kill Kim Jong Nam last week was the nerve agent right out of the movei "The Rock" called VX, which happens to be listed as a weapon of mass destruction by the United Nations.

Khalid Abu Bakar, Malaysia’s inspector general of police, said Friday in a statement that identification of the substance came from a preliminary report. He said swabs were taken from the eye and face of the victim.

VX is described by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as “the most potent of all nerve agents”, with a large dose leading to loss of consciousness, paralysis and respiratory failure. Its only known use is as a chemical warfare agent. 

VX is banned under the UN Chemical Weapons Convention, to which North Korea is not a party.

The nerve agent, also known as ethyl N-2-Diisopropylaminoethyl Methylphosphonothiolate, was developed in the UK in the 1950s.

As the FT further adds, Malaysian police are seeking at least four North Korean suspects in connection with the murder, who are now believed to be back in Pyongyang. Two other North Korean nationals, including a diplomat in Malaysia, are wanted for questioning.

Police have detained a Vietnamese woman, an Indonesian woman and a North Korean man in connection with Kim’s death.

The murder has frayed relations between North Korea and Malaysia, which this week recalled its ambassador from Pyongyang.

In the aftermath of the fallout from North Korea"s ballistic missile launch and alleged orchestration of Kim Jong Nam"s murder, we reported earlier today that China, which last weekend announced it would ban all coal imports from North Korea, was preparing for "regime collapse" in North Korea, and would "take the necessary measures to safeguard national security in the event of the collapse of the neighbouring North Korean regime", a defence official said on Thursday. 

Kim Jong Nam Assassination Caught On Tape

Chilling closed-circuit security footage has emerged of the killing of Kim Jong Nam last week, showing two attackers took less than three seconds to carry out the assault on the half-brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. As the WSJ first reported, the video clips from security cameras were obtained by a Japanese media outlet and posted by a third party on YouTube.

The clip shot inside Kuala Lumpur International Airport shows Kim arriving alone at a busy, well-lit departures hall shortly before 9 a.m. on Feb. 13. Police said he had been in Malaysia about a week, and intended to take a 10:50 a.m. AirAsia flight back to his home in Macau. From an airport mall area, Kim, wearing loafers, light-blue jeans, a sport coat and a flat cap, and with a black backpack slung over his right shoulder, strides past three police officers into a crowded departures hall.

Once he arrives at the entrance of the departure lobby, he stops momentarily to look up at the flight schedules. After checking the flight schedules, he then moves to a nearby self-check-in kiosk.

In a flash, the next scene shows two women approaching Kim, one in a whitetop appearing to lunge as she places her hand over Kim’s face. There is a flurry of movement, then after a matter of two or three seconds, the three break apart. The woman in white - whose hair and dress resembles a woman dressed in a top with an “LOL” slogan who Malaysian police said was connected to the killing - walks briskly away.

Japan-based Fuji TV aired the video compilation late Sunday night. A spokeswoman declined to say how it obtained the footage, citing an obligation to protect its source. The video has since been circulated by Japanese and other media, and was viewed hundreds of thousands of times on YouTube before being removed.

As the WSJ explains, in the next clip, Kim is standing at one of the kiosks when a person that police believe was Siti Aisyah, a 25-year-old Indonesian woman who authorities said was working as a masseuse at a spa in Kuala Lumpur, approaches on his left, getting his attention. A second later, a person police believe to be Doan Thi Huong, a 28-year-old Vietnamese woman, swoops in behind Mr. Kim. She reaches up with both arms and wraps them around Mr. Kim’s head, appearing to either hold a cloth to his face or to hold him in place.

It isn’t clear what action, if any, Ms. Aisyah takes. Mr. Kim’s backpack slips off from his shoulder and he stumbles backward as both women then slide away quickly but calmly in opposite directions. Mr. Kim appears to watch Ms. Aisyah departing, seemingly never having seen Ms. Huong. He stands motionless for several seconds. Huong’s contact with Mr. Kim lasted 2.33 seconds, according a timer added to the video compilation.

The clip of the assault near the kiosks is blurrier than the previous clips, which police told The Wall Street Journal was because a camera closer to the scene wasn’t working. They said another camera that would have caught the assailants at a departure point was also out of order. 

A subsequent clip, of better quality from a different camera, shows Kim walking quickly to the nearby customer-service desk. There he tells an airport employee that two women had just wiped a wet cloth on his face, and that he feels dizzy, according to police, who have said they are also investigating whether a spray was used in the assault. The airport worker escorts him out to the hallway where Mr. Kim speaks animatedly with the police he had passed minutes earlier. Mr. Kim repeatedly motions toward his face.

The next clip shows a far less crowded area downstairs from the departures hall, where a police officer and an airport employee calmly escort Mr. Kim to a small, glass-fronted airport medical clinic. Mr. Kim, now moving less steadily, enters.

An unspecified amount of time passes, and the next clip shows Mr. Kim on a stretcher at the clinic, being moved. Police said he had a seizure, and medical workers sent him to Putrajaya Hospital. Mr. Kim died en route.

Local police arrested Ms. Aisyah and Ms. Huong last week for possible involvement in the case. Neither has been charged, and both are being detained by police for one week. Police have also arrested a North Korean man and a Malaysian man suspected of being involved in the assault, and say they are searching for others, including several North Korean men.

As reported last week, police have said they believe Kim was poisoned during the assault, but are awaiting confirmation from autopsy results. Malaysia’s health minister said results could be released as early as Wednesday. 

According to SCMP, Malaysia shot back at North Korea’s allegations that authorities were purposely delaying the investigation, including the release of Kim Jong-nam’s remains. “North Korea can say anything, but, as far as we are concerned, we follow the legal requirements of our country,” Noor Rashid said.

Pyongyang is behind the death, a South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman alleged Sunday. “The government assumes that North Korea’s regime is behind the incident,” Defense Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee said, adding that there would be no further comment while Malaysian police conduct their investigation.

Russian UN Ambassador Dies Unexpectedly in New York, As Russian Warship Trawls U.S. Shores

In a world where nothing is coincidence…

Yet another Russian diplomat has died unexpectedly at a time when tensions between East and West are great, and when there is a great deal of subterfuge going on behind the scenes.

Few could forget the shocking video of Andrei Karlov, Russia’s ambassador to Turkey, being shot at an art gallery podium in Turkey by a man who was supposed to be on his security detail. Russian and Turkish leaders both suggested that it was an attempt to undermine cooperation and potential peace agreements over Syria.

Only hours after that event took place in December, a second Russian diplomat, Petr Polshikov, was reportedly found dead from a gun shot wound in his Moscow apartment. No further details have emerged, but a great deal of speculation was fueled as to what was really going on.

Now, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, has “unexpectedly” dropped dead – one day before his 65th birthday from an apparent heart attack, though an autopsy and further determination of the cause of death could be forthcoming.

According to Reuters:

Russia’s combative ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, died suddenly in New York on Monday after being taken ill at work, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

The ministry gave no details on the circumstances of his death but offered condolences to his relatives and said the diplomat had died one day before his 65th birthday.

It declined to comment on reports that Churkin had been taken to a hospital shortly before his death.

A U.S. government official, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the case, said that Churkin had died of an apparent heart attack.

A federal law enforcement official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said that there appeared to be nothing unusual about the ambassador’s death.

[…]“Ambassador Churkin remained at his work post until the last minute. He devoted his whole life to defending the interests of Russia and was to be found on the very front lines and in the most stressful posts.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. Coast Guard has been tracking a Russian spy ship that is trawling off the East Coast – and quite near to an American submarine base in Connecticut and to the borders of United States territorial waters in general.

Surely, there is no reason for concern there… because it’s ‘not a direct threat.’

According to the Courant.com:

The military tracked a Russian spy ship moving up the East Coast to within 30 miles of the Naval Submarine Base in Groton Wednesday and some political figures called the maneuver another aggressive action by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“At this point there’s not a violation of international waters. Unless that happens you aren’t going to see any aggressive pushback, but it’s something that has us on high alert,” U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, told The Courant.

Two retired Navy submarine commanders downplayed the Russian presence, saying the ship presents little threat to U.S. security. Such Russian intelligence ships routinely patrol areas outside U.S. naval bases and track U.S. and allied forces’ naval exercises.

[..]

“The U.S. Coast Guard is aware of a Russian Federation-flagged vessel transiting international waters off the East Coast of the United States, as we are of all vessels approaching the U.S. The ship has not entered U.S. territorial waters, which extend 12 miles out to sea,” the Coast Guard said in a statement. “We respect freedom of navigation exercised by all nations beyond the territorial sea of a coastal state consistent with international law. The Coast Guard continues to coordinate with federal agency partners to monitor maritime contacts operating in the vicinity of U.S. shores.”

Curiously, there have been other assassinations taking place as well.

While the mainstream media and deep state figureheads have been busy assassinating President Trump’s character, covert operations have been taking place around the world.

The half brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un – said to be at odds with the premiere – was just assassinated in a Malayasian airport in a bizarre series of events that involved two women apparently putting a cloth around his face and/or spraying some sort of aerosol on the exiled potential heir.

As SHTF reported, the two women told police they thought they were taking part in a viral prank video – and may well have been unwitting of their role in his death. Either way, the unconventional hit was capture on CCTV video for all the world to see.

This isn’t just about North Korea, though. Clearly, “they” can get to anybody, anytime, by whatever means they please:

While it has been presumed that Kim Jong Nam, the half brother of the dictator, was killed by North Korea, given their long history of cutthroat politics and petty reasons for assassinating dissenters among their ranks, there may well be more to the story.

Big things are in the works. China is reportedly cutting off billions of dollars of coal that it sells to North Korea, which will put tremendous pressure on the regime. Meanwhile, the new regime in the U.S. could eye the Hermit Kingdom as a new, easy enemy to rally around – particularly given that North Korea was listed as a member of the so-called “Axis of Evil” back during the last Bush Administration.

Who, exactly, is chasing whose tail?

That much remains a mystery.

Are Russian diplomats dropping like flies because the CIA or other covert agency are targeting them – as one ex-CIA official blatantly called for on television – or could someone within Putin’s Administration be culling internal opponents to some agenda? Perhaps there are other motives, as well. Or perhaps, it is just another individual taken by the toll of stress and overwork.

Is Churkin’s death just another part of life, or is it more writing on the wall that things are anything but normal in the current state of affairs?

Read more:

Uncensored RAW VIDEO: Russian Ambassador Shot Dead In Turkey

Thwarted Peace? Assassination of Russian Ambassador “A False Flag Operation By the West”

Update: “Putin’s Favorite Chauffer” Killed In Accident… Exactly As Former CIA Director Described On TV

Creepy and Bizarre: Pranksters Set-Up to Assassinate Kim Jong Un’s Half Brother with “Aerosol Spray”

Creepy and Bizarre: Pranksters Set-Up to Assassinate Kim Jong Un’s Half Brother with “Aerosol Spray”

This one is downright eerie – and it sounds like a plot hatched by Jack Nicholson’s Joker, releasing deadly gases disguised inside of benign household products. As conspiratorial as it gets.

While pranksters were behind a slew of fake phone calls to Congressman, including a set-up with Sen. John McCain from two Russians posing as the Ukrainian PM, a more serious prank has been attributed to the circumstances that lead to the mysterious death of Kim Jung Un’s half brothers – who was killed a few days ago in Malasia.

Speculatively, Kim Jong Nam may have been targeted by his own estranged half brother, though he is not a rival to Kim Jung Un’s power, as subtle and bizarre reasons have often been attributed to political killings in North Korea. On the other hand, it may have been foul play from a criminal organization or CIA plot.

At any rate, the creepiest part of this eerie murder was that the two young women who responsible for his death after spraying aerosol cans that released toxic fumes inhaled by Kim Jong Nam immediately before his death – they reportedly believed they were taking part in an viral video prank, and had no idea was they were really part of.

via Heat Street:

Following the news that Kim Jong Un’s estranged brother, Kim Jong Nam, was assassinated in Malaysia by two women using an aerosol spray, new details have emerged about the alleged assassins and their motives. The two women told police they believed they were playing roles in a viral video prank, which they hired to participate in for $100 each.

Heat Street revealed Thursday that one of the alleged assailants identified herself to Malaysian authorities as a Vietnamese Internet personality with a YouTube channel. On Friday, police told The Star newspaper (via The Australian) that new CCTV footage taken the day before the assassination showed a group of the same six people implicated in murder wandering around Kuala Lumpur International Airport. It may be evidence of a “dress rehearsal” for the assassination of Jong Nam, who was set to travel to his home in Macau the next day.

[…]

Siti Aisyah told police that she was approached in a night club in Kuala Lumpur, where she works, and offered $100 to take part in the prank. Like Doan, the Indonesian says she had no knowledge that she was taking part in an assassination and was not aware of who Kim Jong Nam was.

It took only five seconds of inhaling the toxic substance for Jong Nam’s fate to be sealed. He died en route to the hospital after he sought help from the airport clinic.

While other accounts cast more presumptive suspicion on these two women, and the other four people they were seen with the day before, the idea that they were unwitting vectors of death is unsettling to say the least.

What could be more scarring and traumatic than finding out you played a role in causing someone’s death while taking part in a scheme of which you were not aware.

Another account indicates that these women may have instead injected needles into him – which would indeed color the story quite differently, if true:

Media reports tell of the ‘casino loving half brother’ walking through the airport in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur Monday morning, when the two women plunged ‘poison needles’ into his body. (source)

Police are still investigating, obviously, and it remains to be seen whether or not their story checks out, and Malaysian officials are so far refusing to the return the body to North Korea unless the Kim family submits a DNA sample to match to the body.

There is little doubt that a rogue leader with as much petty power and cartoonish ruthlessness as Kim Jung Un could get to any one of his internal rivals in hundreds of ways. The traditional style of rule in North Korea has long been unpredictable, sudden assassinations designed to discourage subterfuge, and breed suspicion to keep up appearances and stay in line at all costs.

But given that they have insisted that they were merely involved in making YouTube prank vids, it seems that their prank suffered some deadly blowback.

As Jack Nicholson made clear in the 1989 Batman film, it would be far too easy to get to someone with a disguised and seemingly harmless object.

As for why Kim Jong Nam was killed, it seems most likely that it is accounted for by classic sibling rivalry and palace intrigue, despite the fact that Nam was living in exile and seemingly unlikely to challenge his brother’s power.

According to the Economist:

Since the 30-something Kim Jong Un came to power, he has consolidated power by executing about 140 senior officials, most notably his uncle and security chief, Jang Song Thaek. Yet exile had typically been the fate of members of the Kim family who had fallen out of favour. Kim Jong Il’s half-brother, Kim Pyong Il, was sent abroad on never-ending diplomatic service, for instance.Some say Jong Nam was sidelined by Jong Un’s mother and her family … As a political irrelevance, [Nam] had seemed likely to survive Jong Un’s purges.

Wild rumours had circulated in the South Korean press that Jong Nam had conspired against his brother with Jang. Jong Nam had been close to Jang, who was his escort during his school days in Switzerland. But Michael Madden, who runs “North Korea Leadership Watch”, a blog, says tales of fraternal hostility have been overdone.

It is possible that Jong Nam was involved in financial dealings that Jong Un wanted to wind up. Some suspect he was laundering money through Macau’s casinos. Mr Madden says he had ties with Office 39, a department that seeks foreign income for the Kim regime through illicit means. More likely, however, is that Jong Nam simply irritated his half-brother by criticising him. Mr Gomi quoted him as saying Jong Un would “not last” as leader.

If North Korea’s cut throat politics is this sophisticated and deadly, how can we be surprised at the levels that the CIA and deep state have gone to in countering President Trump’s seat of power; the orchestrated coup that ousted Gen. Flynn is just the icing on the cake so far. There are hundreds of micro-coups going on as they battle for dominance, and chances are, we haven’t seen anything yet.

There is perhaps nothing that some of these power hungry types wouldn’t stoop to.

With a slew of fake news items that are designed to preempt, undermine or creep out world leaders and populations alike, and a dirty tricks across the board, it is high season for political sabotage, stunts, moves and counter moves.

Read more:

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Brother Of Kim Jong Un Assassinated In Malaysia; US "Strongly Believes" North Korea Behind Murder

Update: According to a U.S. government source speaking to Reuters, the U.S. strongly believes that North Korean agents murdered the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Malaysia. This, even though U.S. authorities have not yet determined exactly how Kim Jong Nam was killed, according to the source, who did not provide firm evidence to support the government"s conclusion.

* * *
Just two days after North Korea embarrassed both the US and Japan by test-firing a new, nuclear-capable ICBM with a 2000 mile range, with neither Trump nor Abe able to articulate a clear retaliation strategy, moments ago Yonhap news agency reported that the elder half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been assassinated at Kuala Lumpur airport.

Kim Jong Nam

Kim Jong Nam, 45, who had lived outside North Korea for years, was reported to have been killed by poison needle by two women who fled the scene by taxi, the reports said.

Police official Fadzil Ahmat said the cause of Kim"s death was not yet known, and a post mortem would be carried out on the body. "So far there are no suspects, but we have started investigations and are looking at a few possibilities to get leads," Fadzil told Reuters.

According to Fadzil, Kim had been planning to travel to Macau on Monday when he fell ill at the low-cost terminal of Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). "The deceased ... felt like someone grabbed or held his face from behind," Fadzil said. "He felt dizzy, so he asked for help at the ... counter of KLIA."

Kim was taken to an airport clinic where he still felt unwell, and it was decided to take him to hospital. He died in the ambulance on the way to Putrajaya Hospital, Fadzil added.

He was once considered to be the heir to late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il but he fell out of favor with his father in 2001 after he was caught trying to enter Japan on a false passport, and was arrested at Tokyo airport, apparently en route to Disneyland. Kim Jong Nam had been critical of Kim Jong Un, reportedly saying in 2012 that he “won’t last long” because of his youth and inexperience. The two brothers have different mothers, Bloomberg reports. Kim Jong Nam did not attend his father"s funeral in 2011.

Kim Jong Nam said several times over the years that he had no interest in leading his country. "Personally, I am against third-generation succession," he told Japan"s Asahi TV in 2010. "I hope my younger brother will do his best for the sake of North Koreans" prosperous lives."

His cousin, Lee Han-young, who defected to South Korea through Switzerland in 1982, was shot and killed by North Korean agents in Seoul in 1997, according to South Korea. Kim Jong Nam"s mother was an actress named Song Hye Rim.

"My father was keeping highly secret the fact that he was living with my mother who was married, a famous movie actress, so I couldn’t get out of the house or make friends," Kim Jong Nam was quoted as saying in a 2012 book by a Japanese journalist. "That solitude from childhood may have made me what I am now, preferring freedom."

According to Reuters, South Korea"s foreign ministry said it could not confirm the reports, and the country"s intelligence agency could not immediately be reached for comment.

"We don"t know if there was a cloth or needles; the receptionist said someone grabbed his face, he felt dizzy," police official Fadzil said, when asked about the nature of the reported attack. Malaysia is one of a dwindling number of countries that has close relations with North Korea, which is under tightening global sanctions over its nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches, the latest of which took place on Sunday.

So who may be behind the murder? As BBG adds, Kim has carried out a series of executions since taking power in 2011, the most high profile of which was the 2013 killing of his uncle and one-time deputy Jang Song Thaek. If Kim Jong Nam was killed by a North Korean spy, it indicates that Kim Jong Un felt a sense of paranoia about his own future and wanted to remove any potential successors, according to Namkoong Young, who has been teaching inter-Korean politics at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies for more than 25 years.

“Jong Nam has been in exile for years away from North’s politics for a long time but he is still the eldest son of Kim Jong Il,” Namkoong said. “And if there was any move or plan by some elite there to have him replace Jong Un, he probably should be removed.”

Of course, it is just as likely that a certain spy agency could have staged the murder, making it seem like it was preemptive retaliation by Un. For now there are no further details.

A person in the Malaysian prime minister’s office, who did not want to be named, confirmed that a North Korean national had been killed at the airport and taken to hospital. The person said police were still waiting for the autopsy report. South Korean officials have yet to comment publicly on the matter. Malaysia’s foreign ministry is still waiting for information from the police on the identity of the deceased man. The death is under the purview of the home affairs ministry, she said. The police didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

In 2014, Kim Jong Un had about 50 officials executed on charges ranging from graft to watching South Korean soap operas. Two senior officials were executed with an anti-aircraft gun in August last year on Kim’s orders, South Korea’s JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported, citing people it did not identify.