Murder at the airport: the brazen attack on Kim Jong-nam
Many details about the case remain a mystery
Kuala Lumpur — Early on a February morning two years ago, a balding man in a grey suit entered Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur airport, glanced up at the departures board and walked to check in for his flight to Macau. Moments later, his killers struck. A few steps away from a Starbucks cafe and a Puffy Buffy Malaysian food stall, a woman stood in front of Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korea’s leader, to distract him. Her partner approached from behind, pulled from her handbag a cloth drenched in liquid VX, a chemical weapon, reached around his head and clamped it to his face. That was enough to deliver deadly poison to the portly 46-year-old relative of Kim Jong-un. Carrying a backpack containing $100,000 and four North Korean passports, Kim Jong-nam had been travelling under his pseudonym “Kim Chol”, police said. After the attack, he approached a help desk and explained that someone seemed to have grabbed or held his face and now he felt dizzy. He was taken to a small ...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.