The assassination of the half-brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un was directed by North Korea’s ministry of state security and foreign ministry, South Korean lawmakers briefed by the country’s intelligence agency said Monday.
(FOX)- Four officials of the state security ministry and two officials of the foreign ministry are among the eight suspects in the murder of Kim Jong Nam, the lawmakers quoted the intelligence agency as saying.
Kim died Feb. 13 at Kuala Lumpur’s airport in what Malaysian police say was a well-planned hit by two women who wiped a liquid on Kim’s face. Police revealed Friday that the banned chemical weapon VX nerve agent was used in the murder, raising the stakes in the case.
Malaysia’s health minister said Sunday that the dose of the nerve agent was so high that it killed him within 20 minutes and caused “very serious paralysis.”
Health Minister Subramaniam Sathasivam said the dose of VX given to Kim was so high that he showed symptoms within minutes. Kim fainted at the airport clinic and died in the ambulance while en route to a hospital, he said.
“VX only requires 10 milligrams to be absorbed into the system to be lethal, so I presume that the amount of dose that went in is more than that,” he said at a news conference. “The doses were so high and it did it so fast and all over the body, so it would have affected his heart, it would have affected his lungs, it would have affected everything.”