By Anandita Mehta
Staff Writer
North Korea’s Kim Jong Nam was killed while waiting for a plane at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia on Feb. 13, Time magazine reported.
Since then, there have been several recent developments surrounding the murder.
Kim is the son of the deceased North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Il, and elder half-brother of the current leader of the Republic, Kim Jong Un, according to Time magazine.
Airport security cameras captured two women, Siti Aisyah of Indonesia and Doan Thi Huang of Vietnam, attacking Kim with a cloth soaked in a liquid confirmed by Malaysian authorities to be VX, a military grade chemical weapon, The New York Times reported.
The drug causes increased heart rates and blurry vision. In larger doses, convulsions, loss of consciousness and death through respiratory failure occur. Kim died while he was being rushed to the hospital after reporting the incident to airport authorities, according to CNN.
While both women have denied any knowledge of the results of their actions, they have since been arrested and charged with Kim’s murder, according to CNN.
The same source reported that if they are found guilty, they will face the death penalty.
Aisyah and Huang said they were under the impression they were playing a prank and did not understand the severity of the chemical, according to The New York Times.
The rarity and strength of the drug suggests the North Korean government was behind the attack, according to NPR.
North Korea said Kim died of a heart attack, but failed to acknowledge the deceased man as Kim and, instead, referred to the body as a North Korean national named Kim Chol.
No family members have identified the body yet, stopping Malaysian authorities from turning it over to North Korea, according to NPR.
Since no North Korean officials were present, North Korea has also denounced the Malaysian autopsy report pinpointed the cause of death as VX, NPR reported.
Kim’s death has increased the United Nations’s desire to distance themselves from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, The New York Times reported.
According to the same source, escalating tensions have taken the form of economic isolation, as China has halted all imports of coal from North Korea.
