The news
brought condemnation from South Korea, which slammed the use of the nerve agent
as a “blatant violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and other
international norms”. Experts in the South said Friday that North Korea has up
to 5,000 tonnes of chemical weapons stockpiled, including a supply of VX.
An autopsy
revealed traces of VX — a fast-acting toxin that sparks respiratory collapse
and heart failure — on the dead man’s face and in his eyes. Tiny amounts of the
poison are enough to kill an adult, whether it is inhaled or absorbed through
the skin. “I am outraged that the criminals used such a dangerous chemical in a
public area,” said Environment Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar It “could
have caused mass injuries or even death to other people”.
One of the
two women arrested after the attack fell ill in custody, police said, adding
she had been vomiting. National police chief Khalid Abu Bakar has previously
said the woman who attacked Kim from behind clearly knew she was carrying out a
poison attack, dismissing claims that she thought she was taking part in a TV
prank.
“The lady was
moving away with her hands towards the bathroom,” Khalid said earlier this
week. “She was very aware that it was toxic and that she needed to wash her
hands.” – Diplomatic pouches – Khalid said Friday experts would sweep the busy
airport terminal where the Cold War-era attack took place for traces of the
toxin as well as other locations the women had visited. “We are investigating
how (the VX) entered the country,” he told reporters. However he added that “if
the amount of the chemical brought in was small, it would be difficult for us
to detect”.
A leading
regional security expert told AFP it would not have been difficult to get VX
into Malaysia in a diplomatic pouch, which are not subject to regular customs
checks. North Korea has previously used the pouches “to smuggle items including
contraband and items that would be subjected to scrutiny if regular travel
channels were used”, said Rohan Gunaratna, the head of the Singapore-based
International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research.
Detectives
are holding three people — women from Indonesia and Vietnam, and a North Korean
man — but want to speak to seven others, four of whom are believed to have fled
to Pyongyang. One man wanted for questioning, who is believed to be still in Malaysia,
is senior North Korean embassy official Hyon Kwang Song. Police have
acknowledged that his diplomatic status prevents them from questioning him
unless he surrenders himself. – Chemical warfare – North Korea, which has not
acknowledged the dead man’s identity, has vehemently protested at the
investigation, saying Malaysia is in cahoots with its enemies. Its ambassador
Kang Chol has said Pyongyang “cannot trust” the Malaysian police to prosecute
their probe fairly. He was told Friday to shut up or face the prospect of being
kicked out of the country.
“The
ambassador has been informed of the process involved (in the police
investigation) but he continues to be delusional and spew lies and accusations
against the government of Malaysia,” Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said. A
senior Malaysian government official said Kang had been shown a “yellow card”,
adding: “If he repeats the baseless allegations, he will be expelled.” The only
known function of VX is as a chemical warfare agent and the US government’s
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes it as the “most
potent” of all nerve agents.
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