Assassination of Kim Jong-nam

On 13 February 2017, Kim Jong-nam, the older half-brother of the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, was assassinated at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia. He had been living abroad since his exile from North Korea in 2003.

Following his visit to the resort island Langkawi, Kim Jong-nam arrived at terminal 2 sometime before 9:00 a.m. to take a 10:50 a.m. AirAsia flight to Macau. At approximately 9:00 a.m., two women approached Kim with separate components of the VX nerve agent on their hands, combining it into the lethal weapon when touching his face. He died about 15 to 20 minutes later while being transported to the hospital.

The women were identified as Siti Aisyah from Indonesia and Đoàn Thị Hương from Vietnam. Both were charged with the murder of Kim Jong-nam. The murder charges were dropped when it was found that they were unknowingly used for the assassination, although Hương pled guilty to a lesser charge of "voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means" and received a sentence of three years and four months. She was released from prison on 3 May 2019.

It is widely believed that Kim Jong-nam was murdered on the orders of Kim Jong Un. Four North Korean suspects, later confirmed as spies, left the airport shortly after the assassination and reached Pyongyang without being arrested. Other North Koreans were arrested but were released without charge. The assassination triggered a serious diplomatic conflict between Malaysia and North Korea, which ended in the two countries severing diplomatic ties. Provided by Wikipedia