Ministers believe half-brother of North Korean
leader was killed with more than 10mg of UN classified VX nerve agent
By
Agencies in Kuala Lumpur
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Forensics teams conduct a
decontamination operation at Kuala Lumpur international
airport. Photograph: Manan
Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images
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The dose of poison given to North Korean
ruler Kim Jong-un’s half-brother was so high it killed him “within 15 to 20
minutes”, Malaysia’s health minister has said.
Kim Jong-nam died on 13 February at Kuala
Lumpur airport from being poisoned with VX nerve agent, a banned chemical
substance classified by the UN as a weapon of mass destruction.
Subramaniam Sathasivam said on Sunday that
the dose of VX given to Kim was so high it “would have affected everything”.
“VX only requires 10mg 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.”
Asked how long it took for Kim to die after
he was attacked, Subramaniam said: “I would think it was about, from the time
of onset, from the time of application, 15-20 minutes.”
Despite the poisoning, Malaysia has insisted
the killing poses no remaining danger to the public and on Sunday declared its
international airport a “safe zone” after completing a sweep of the terminal
where Kim had been assaulted.
The police forensic team, fire department and
atomic energy licensing board swept the budget terminal of Kuala Lumpur
International airport at 1 am on 26 February.
“We confirm, number one, there is no
hazardous material found in KLIA2; number two, KLIA2 is free from any form of
contamination of hazardous material and thirdly, KLIA2 is declared a safe
zone,” Abdul Samah Mat, the police chief of Selangor state who is leading the
investigation, told reporters at the airport.
The site of the assault was cordoned off
during the sweep, but the rest of the terminal remained open. Since the
incident, tens of thousands of people have passed through the terminal, with
the location of the assault remaining accessible.
Security camera footage released by Japanese
broadcaster Fuji TV showed the moment two women assaulted Kim with a cloth
authorities suspect was laced with the nerve agent.
In later clips Kim is seen asking airport
officials for medical help and rubbing his eyes and stumbling as he entered an
airport clinic. Airport authorities said he complained of dizziness and died on
the way to hospital.
Authorities have said there have been no
anomalies in medical cases reported at the clinic since the incident. They also
said medical staff at the clinic were in good health.
One Indonesian woman and one Vietnamese woman
have been detained, along with a North Korean man.
Seven other North Koreans have been
identified as suspects or are wanted for questioning, four of whom have since
left for Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, police said.
Police are also sweeping other locations in
Kuala Lumpur that suspects may have visited.
Samah Mat said earlier on Saturday that
authorities had raided an apartment in an upscale Kuala Lumpur suburb earlier
this week in connection with the death and were checking for any traces of
unusual chemicals in the apartment.
Kim, who had been living in exile with his
family in Macau under Chinese protection, had spoken publicly in the past
against his family’s dynastic control of the isolated, nuclear-armed state.
South Korean and US officials said he was
assassinated by North Korean agents. North Korea has not acknowledged his
death.
Subramaniam said that autopsy findings were
consistent with police reports showing Kim was killed by VX.
He said the chemical caused “serious paralysis
which led to the death of the person in such a short period of time”.
The Indonesian suspect, Siti Aishah, was
reported to be unwell, possibly owing to contact with the chemical. Subramaniam
said authorities were running tests to ascertain whether Siti had been affected
by the chemical.