Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian police say assassins used the most potent nerve agent to kill Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un.
A statement from Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar on Friday said a preliminary analysis of a substance taken from Mr Kim's eyes identified "VX nerve agent" which is classified as a chemical weapon under international laws governing theuse of chemicals in warfare. The United Nations has classified it as a weapon of mass destruction.
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Tensions escalate over Kim Jong-nam's death
A diplomatic row between Malaysia and North Korea is escalating over the handling of a probe into the killing of Kim Jong-nam.
The agent is deadly if inhaled. It takes only 10 milligrams of the tasteless and odourless liquid to be fatal through skin contact.
Police allege two Asian women rubbed a toxic substance on their hands and wiped it on Mr Kim's face at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on February 13 in a plot orchestrated by at least seven North Korean men.
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Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, 28, a Kuala Lumpur entertainment industry worker who appeared as a singer on a talent show, allegedly attacked Mr Kim from behind and wrapped her arms around his head.
Police say CCTV footage shows Ms Doan and 25-year-old Indonesian Siti Aisyah washed their hands immediately after confronting Mr Kim, who became unwell, sought help from medical staff at the airport and died on the way to hospital.
Footage showed him raising his hands to his eyes as he demonstrated to airport police what had happened to him.
Mr Khalid said one of the two women was later felt sick and vomited, the Associated Press reported.
Malaysia has asked Interpol to issue an alert notice for four men aged 33 to 57 who are believed to have travelled to Pyongyang after witnessing the attack.
Police say they also want to question a diplomat at North Korea's embassy in Kuala Lumpur and an official of North Korea's state-run airline. A North Korean resident of Kuala Lumpur has also been arrested.
The use of the deadly agent will further escalate a diplomatic row between North Korea, an isolated country under global sanctions, and Malaysia over the attack.
South Korea has accused the north's Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB) spy agency of plotting the assassination and said the country's leader Kim Jong-un issued a standing order five years ago to execute his elder sibling.
North Korea, in turn, has accused Malaysia of "colluding with outside forces", a veiled reference to Mr Kim's open criticism of his family's dynastic rule and call for economic and other reforms in his homeland.
Malaysia last week recalled its ambassador to Pyongyang and according to a senior Malaysian government official the country is considering expelling North Korea's ambassador from Malaysia or shutting its embassy in Pyongyang.
North Korea has denied the man killed at the airport was 46-year-old Kim Jong-nam, a known gambler and frequent traveller, who was living in Macau under Chinese protection with his second wife and son.
Police said a member of Mr Kim's family will arrive in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday to identify the body.
There is media speculation that family member will be Mr Kim's 22-year-old eldest son Kim Han-sol.
Meanwhile, Facebook photographs have emerged of Ms Doan attending parties, sitting in hotel rooms and blowing kisses for the camera.
"I want to sleep more but by your side," Ms Doan wrote above a photograph showing herself wrapped up in bed, eyes closed.
One photograph shows she was in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, last month and another was from the Vietnam Idol talent show.
"Can I sing for you tonight," she wrote on Facebook in March last year. "Reply fast and I will put your number in the comment. I will call and sing for you."
Ms Doan grew up in a family of rice farmers in northern Vietnam and left home at the age of 18.
Police have dismissed reports that Ms Doan and Ms Siti were duped into believing they were taking part in the television prank show, Just for Laughs.
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