The Geopolitical Situation of Kim Jong-nam's Death

Originally Published March 6, 2017

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Developments in the assassination of Kim Jong-un’s half-brother a couple weeks ago keep coming in. Despite the two murderers being identified as agents of the North Korean State and charged, Kim Jong-un’s government is still denying any involvement in the events that  transpired at the Kuala Lumpur airport.

 

 

For those uninformed about this potential international crisis, the main thing to know is that Kim Jong-nam, Kim Jong-un’s elder half-brother, was assassinated in a Malaysian airport on February 13th and fingers are being pointed at the North Korean state as the perpetrator. It is believed that Kim Jong-nam was eliminated to prevent any competition to the North Korean line of succession.

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Some of the players surrounding the mystery (Image 1) 

 

 

The actual assassination captured on CCTV footage saw two women confront Kim Jong-nam in Kuala Lumpur National Airport, with one of them putting a cloth over his face. Mr. Kim, his identity unknown at the time, reportedly told airport staff that "someone had grabbed him from behind and splashed a liquid on his face.” Although he was rushed to the hospital, he died en route.

 

 

Just a few days later, Kim Jong-nam’s identity was confirmed by Malaysian officials. He was travelling under the identity of Kim Chol. Interestingly enough, this was not the first time he has used a false identity while travelling. In 2001, he was caught trying to enter Japan under a false name. Kim Jong-nam, despite being older than Kim Jong-un, fell out of favor with the North Korean state and was exiled most likely because of this event. Throughout his time out of state, Mr. Kim made many controversial remarks on his younger half-brother’s regime. Because of these details, South Korea along with other nations, accused North Korea as instigating the assassination.

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Security cam footage of the attack (Image 2)

 

 

On February 15th, Malaysian authorities arrested a 28-year old Vietnamese woman named Doan Thi Huong. She was identified from the CCTV camera footage at the airport. A day later on February 16th, the other women from the camera footage is arrested. She was identified as a 25-year-old Indonesian named Siti Aisyah. However, things took a turn for the bizarre when Aisyah stated that she believed the whole assassination was thought to be a prank. She said that her and Huong had also done this on other individuals by spraying water into their faces as part of a game and that four men had asked them to do this. Tito Karnavian, a Malaysian senior police officer, reported that, "She was not aware that it was an assassination attempt by alleged foreign agents."

 

 

On February 18th, the first North Korean was arrested, being identified as a 46-year-old man called Ri Jong Chol. The next day, Malaysia expanded their search to include 4 more North Korean men who all left the country on the day of Kim’s assassination. Two of them, Hong Song Hac (34) and Ri Ji Hyon (33) gained wanted status with Interpol and the Malaysian authorities. At this point, Malaysia/North Korea relations became volatile, with North Korea stating that they will reject the results of the autopsy and Malaysia refusing to hand over the body until DNA evidence was procured from Kim Jong-nam’s next of kin.

 

 

The blame game continued until a breakthrough occurred on February 24th, with the substance killing Kim being identified as VX nerve toxin. VX, thought to be one of the most dangerous man-made chemicals in history, has been classified by the UN as a WMD. This dangerous chemical, even more deadly than sarin, can kill through inhalation or skin contact with dosages of as little as 10 mg. The reason this is significant is that VX is not available commercially, likely pointing to government involvement. North Korea is also not a signatory of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which outlaws certain chemical compounds which have the capacity to be weaponized. North Korea is also believed to have the third-largest stockpile of VX in the world. The United States and Russia are signatories of the CWC and are in the process of destroying their own stockpiles.

 

 

The most recent event in the case occurred when Huong and Aisyah   were formally charged with the murder of Kim Jong-nam. Although this was a preliminary hearing, if convicted of the crime, they could face the death penalty. Their formal appearance in the higher court is scheduled for April 13th.

North Korea has continually denied all involvement in any assassination plot and repeatedly accuses Malaysia of fabricating evidence in the autopsy. They have even gone on to say that instead of VX poisoning, Kim Jong-nam had simply died of a heart attack.

Please note that this is a developing story and new details may emerge as they become available.