KUALA LUMPUR: Autopsy results on Kim Jong-nam suggest he was killed by “very serious paralysis” due to a lethal nerve agent, Malaysia’s health minister said Sunday.
The estranged half-brother of the North Korean leader would have died “in a very short period of time”, Health Minister S. Subramaniam added.
Malaysia revealed Friday that the 45-year-old victim was killed with the VX nerve agent, which is so deadly it is listed by the UN as a weapon of mass destruction.
Police are holding two women suspected of staging the attack as well as a North Korean man.
They want to speak to seven other North Koreans including a senior embassy official, but four of the suspects fled Malaysia on the day of the murder.
The two women can be seen shoving something into Kim’s face in leaked CCTV airport footage of the brazen February 13 attack. He later suffered a seizure and was dead before he reached hospital.
Nerve agents prevent the proper operation of an enzyme that acts as the body’s “off switch” for glands and muscles.
Without that switch, glands and muscles are constantly being stimulated, eventually tire and become unable to sustain breathing.
Subramaniam told reporters the cause of death was now “more or less confirmed”.
The news Friday that lethal VX nerve agent was used in the attack sparked anger in Malaysia and brought condemnation from South Korea, which has pointed the finger at the North over Kim’s death.
Seoul slammed the use of the toxin as a “blatant violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and other international norms”.
No next-of-kin have yet come forward to formally identify the body or provide a DNA sample, but authorities have said relatives would be given more time to do so.
