"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.