Malaysia: VX nerve agent killed brother of N. Korean leader
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Sometime in the hours after poisoning the half brother of North Korea’s leader, one of his two attackers began to vomit, Malaysian police said Friday. It was apparently an early indication of the immensely powerful toxin that was used in the killing: the chemical warfare agent VX.
The oily poison was almost certainly produced in a sophisticated state weapons laboratory, experts say, and is banned under international treaties. North Korea, a prime suspect in the case, never signed that treaty, and has spent decades developing a complex chemical weapons program that has long worried the international community.
“This is not something you make in a kitchen lab. You’d kill yourself if you did,” said Bruce Bennet, a defence expert with the RAND Corporation who has studied North Korea.
The public poisoning of Kim Jong Nam, which took place amid crowds of travellers in the budget terminal at Kuala Lumpur’s airport, has boosted speculation that North Korea dispatched killers to assassinate its leader’s older brother, who, though not an obvious political threat, may have been seen as a potential rival in the country’s dynastic dictatorship.