Suspects in murder of Kim Jong Nam appear in Malaysian court
April 13, 2017
The two suspects have been charged with murdering Kim Jong Nam and face death by hanging if convicted. However, the women maintain they were unknowing pawns in a deadly case of political intrigue.
Image: Getty Images/R. Roslan
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The two women accused of murdering the estranged half-brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un arrived at a heavily guarded courthouse in the Sepang district on Thursday morning wearing bullet-proof vests.
It was the second court appearance for the suspects, Doan Thi Huong, 28, from Vietnam, and Siti Aisyah, 25, from Indonesia, but not the last one as the hearing was postponed until late May. The prosecution team requested that the case be transferred to a higher court and the women be jointly tried for murder.
Kim Jong Nam had lived in de facto exile from North Korea for many yearsImage: picture-alliance/AP Photo/S. Kambayashi
Both women have attested their innocence and claimed they were told they were taking part in a prank show.
Prosecutors charged them on March 1 alongside four men who Malaysian authorities identified as North Koreans. The men reportedly fled Malaysia to Pyongyang the same day as the attack.
Three other persons initially of interest, including a North Korean diplomat, were subsequently released.
North Korea's long killing streak
A South Korean media report has claimed a top Pyongyang nuclear envoy was killed — but he turned up on TV days later. It would not have been the first killing from the top, but it turned out to be another false report.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Living in the crosshairs
High-profile defector Hwang Jang Yop survived numerous assassination attempts before dying of natural causes at the age of 87. Hwang, who had been one of the leading ideologues of the North's isolationist regime, escaped to South Korea in 1997. Just months before his death in 2010, Seoul authorities arrested two North Korean military officers over one of many plots to kill him.
Image: AP
Uncle not 'fed to the dogs'
The execution of Kim Jong Un's uncle Jang Song Thaek, once the second most powerful man in the isolated country, sent shock waves beyond North Korea's borders. Many media outlets wrongly reported that he was fed to hungry dogs, as punishment for his "betrayal" of the ruling family. In reality, he was shot, according to Pyongyang officials and South Korean intelligence.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Rumors of brutality
In 2015, Seoul's security services reported that North Korean Defense Minister Hyon Yong Chol was executed by an anti-aircraft gun. However, National Intelligence Service (NIS) soon appeared to backtrack from the report, saying that Hyon might still be alive. Reports of other brutal executions, involving artillery shells and flamethrowers, have also been difficult to confirm.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Poisoned needle
North Korean defector and well-known dissident Park Sang Hak was also targeted by a Pyongyang-linked hitman. In 2011, South Korean authorities arrested a former North Korean commando over the plot to assassinate Park with a poison-tipped needle.
Image: AFP/Getty Images
Removing a rival?
The estranged half-brother of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un was reportedly poisoned by two women at a Kuala Lumpur airport. While details remained sketchy, it was widely believed the killers were sent by the North Korean regime. The 46-year-old Kim Jong Nam had been living abroad after falling from grace in 2001 for visiting Disneyland in Tokyo.
