Year after Kim’s killing, suspected masterminds evade trial
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Lost in the glare of North Korea’s missile launches, rhetorical battles with Washington and charm offensive at the Winter Olympics, two women stand accused of a crime that could send them to the gallows — the stunning assassination of Kim Jong Un’s estranged half brother.
It’s a crime the young Southeast Asian women almost certainly had a part in — possibly without even knowing it.
But just as certainly, the slaying of Kim Jong Nam one year ago Tuesday must have required a bigger cast of characters. People who could do the meticulous planning, procure the deadly and exotic poison and carefully wait for the exact moment to act so no one would die other than the unwitting target in a crowded airport terminal in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Masterminds, in other words. Professional killers.