Kim Jong-un should be ‘punished’ by the UN says South Korea as two women are charged with murdering his half-brother

SHE was allegedly involved in the murder of Kim Jong-un’s half-brother. Now, however, she seems to be bulletproof.

Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, spent years in exile, gambling and drinking and arranging the occasional business deal as he travelled across Asia and Europe. Picture: AP

BECAUSE of a grainy security camera photo that went viral online, she is now known to many as the LOL assassin.

But as Doan Thi Huong arrived at a courthouse in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to be formally charged with the murder of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s estranged half brother two weeks ago, she had a very different look - tear-filled eyes and a bulletproof vest.

Perhaps protected against those looking to assassinate her.

Murder suspect Doan Thi Huong. Picture: AP

For most people, those first images Huong were as shocking as they were bizarre - apparently showing her lunging at Kim Jong Nam in a crowded airport terminal while wearing a T-shirt emblazoned in big black letters, LOL, an acronym for laughing out loud.

Huong, who is Vietnamese, and an Indonesian woman were formally charged with murder Thursday.

Her light-brown dyed hair dishevelled and frizzy, Huong was led into the courthouse handcuffed to a female Malaysian officer. She wore a yellow shirt under the protective vest and jeans. As she looked out at a bank of photographers and journalists waiting outside, her face was puffy and her eyes red and teary.

The suspect in her LOL t-shirt.

The Indonesian suspect, Siti Aisyah, arrived dressed in a red T-shirt under her vest and also wore jeans. Outside court, she appeared more sombre, her eyes downcast.

Malaysian police say the two women rubbed VX nerve agent onto Kim’s face, possibly at the behest of North Koreans. Kim was dead within 20 minutes. Both women deny they intended to kill Kim. They say they were hired to play what they were led to believe was a harmless prank on him for a TV show. If found guilty, they could be executed.

Alleged assassin Doan Thi Huong. Picture: Facebook/Ruby Ruby

WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION

Kim Jong-nam was attacked at a busy Kuala Lumpur airport terminal on February 13 and died shortly after two women went up behind him and wiped something onto his face.

Malaysian police at he weekend announced that a banned weapon of mass destruction, the nerve agent ‘VX’, had been found on the body of Kim Jong-nam who died just 20 minutes after having the toxin smeared on his face in Kuala Lumpur’s international airport.

The attack took place amid crowds of travellers at Kuala Lumpur’s airport and appeared to be a well-planned hit. Malaysian authorities say the hands of two women were coated with a protective substance before having the nerve agent placed on top.

After rubbing it on Jong-nam’s face, the two were observed to retreat to the airport’s toilets where they carefully removed both the toxin and the protective agent from their hands.

Malaysian Attorney General Mohamed Apandi Ali said today that the two accused women — Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong — will be charged with murder.

They face a mandatory death sentence.

MORE: Malaysian woman paid $90 for airport assassination

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been implicated in the killing of his half-brother by a banned weapon of mass destruction, the nerve-agent ‘VX’. Picture: AFP

‘WAKE UP CALL’

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se told the UN’s Conference on Disarmament overnight that the use of the banned nerve toxin in the killing was a ‘wake-up call’ to the international community.

“Many international media pointed out that North Korea’s use of chemical weapons for the targeted killing in a third country sent a very clear message to the world,” South Korea’s Yun told the Geneva forum.

“Namely this impulsive, unpredictable, trigger-happy and brutal regime is ready and willing to strike anyone, anytime, anywhere.”

The world should react swiftly, he said, by taking direct action against North Korea.

This could involve removing Pyongyang’s seat at the United Nations, he suggested.

North Korea rejects this, calling Byung-se “despicable and ill-natured”.

Indonesian suspect Siti Aisyah, left, and Vietnamese suspect Doan Thi Huong. Picture: AP

ACCIDENTAL KILLERS?

Both women charged with the murder of Jong-nam have reportedly said they thought they were part of a prank TV show when they put their hands on Kim. Indonesian officials have said Aisyah told them she was paid the equivalent of $90.

Arrmanatha Nasir, the spokesman for Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry, said Aisyah’s lawyers have already begun preparing her defence. Indonesia expects Malaysia will uphold a legal process based on the presumption of innocence until proven otherwise, he said.

“Is she an intelligence agent or not? Let’s see the hearing process and what she says through her lawyers,” Nasir said. “If there is information like that, of course we would get it either from our own intelligence services or from foreign intelligence services which have co-operation with us, and so far we have no such information.”

Malaysia has also detained a 45-year-old North Korean, Ri Jong Chol, whose role in the killing is unclear. Asked if the North Korean will be charged, Apandi said it depends on the outcome of the investigation.

Authorities are seeking seven other North Korean suspects, four of whom fled the country the day of Kim’s death and are believed to be back in North Korea. Others sought include the second secretary of North Korea’s embassy and an employee of North Korea’s state-owned airline, Air Koryo.

South Korean politicians said yesterday that the country’s National Intelligence Service told them in a private briefing that four of the North Koreans identified as suspects are from the Ministry of State Security, the North’s spy organ.

A hazmat team member scans the decontamination zone at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 in Sepang, Malaysia. Picture: AP

BID TO CLAIM BODY

A high-level North Korean delegation arrived in Kuala Lumpur today seeking the body of leader Kim Jong-un’s half brother, the victim of a nerve-agent attack that many suspect the North itself of orchestrating.

The body of Kim Jong-nam, killed Feb. 13 at Kuala Lumpur’s airport, is at the centre of a heated diplomatic battle between North Korea and Malaysia. North Korea opposed Malaysian officials even conducting an autopsy, while Malaysia has resisted giving up the body without getting DNA samples and confirmation from next of kin.

The delegation includes Ri Tong Il, a former North Korean deputy ambassador to the United Nations, who told reporters Tuesday outside the North Korean Embassy that the diplomats were in Malaysia to retrieve the body and seek the release of a North Korean arrested in the case. He said the delegation also wants “development of the friendly relationship” between North Korea and Malaysia. Malaysian officials have confirmed that the victim of the attack was Kim Jong-nam. North Korea, however, has identified him only as a North Korean national with a diplomatic passport bearing the name Kim Chol.

Health Minister Subramaniam Sathasivam said Malaysia will continue to insist that the body be positively identified by medical examiners through DNA or other means before it can be released. He said the protocol is to release it to the next-of-kin once identification is completed.

Asked how long Malaysia can keep Kim’s body at the morgue, he said “we can keep as long as we want.” Police have said that the body will eventually have to be released to the North Korean embassy if there is no claim by Kim’s family members.

Kuala Lumpur airport security cameras obtained show Kim Jong-nam talking to airport security after he was attacked by two women. Minutes later, he would be dead. Picture: AP

ALTERNATE LEADER

Kim Jong-nam was estranged from his half brother, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.

He reportedly fell out of favour with their father, the late Kim Jong-il, in 2001, when he was caught trying to enter Japan on a false passport to visit Tokyo Disneyland.

He had been heading to Macau, where he has a home, when he was killed.

Isolated North Korea has a long history of ordering killings of people it views as threats to its regime.

Kim Jong-nam was not known to be seeking political power; he was best known for his penchants for drinking, gambling and expensive restaurants. But his position as eldest son of the family that has ruled North Korea since it was founded could have made him appear to be a danger.

However, in recent years the high-flying playboy had reportedly begun to be ‘groomed’ by China as a potential alternative leader to the controversial Jong-un.

Malaysia continues to seek DNA samples from Kim Jong-nam’s immediate family. He is believed to have two sons and a daughter with two women living in Beijing and Macau.