The VX nerve agent assassination of Kim Jong-nam at a public airport severed Malaysia–North Korea diplomatic ties and exposed state-sponsored targeted killing.
Key Facts
- Date of assassination
- 13 February 2017
- Location
- Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Terminal 2
- Weapon used
- VX nerve agent
- Time from attack to death
- 15–20 minutes
- Sentence of Đoàn Thị Hương
- 3 years and 4 months (released 3 May 2019)
- North Korean spies fled
- 4 suspects reached Pyongyang without arrest
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Kim Jong-nam, the exiled older half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, had been living outside North Korea since 2003. It is widely believed that Kim Jong Un ordered his elimination, reportedly viewing him as a potential rival or threat. Four North Korean agents, later confirmed as spies, were involved in orchestrating the operation at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
On 13 February 2017, two women—Siti Aisyah of Indonesia and Đoàn Thị Hương of Vietnam—each applied a separate component of the VX nerve agent to Kim Jong-nam's face at Terminal 2 of Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The combined substance proved lethal, and Kim died approximately 15 to 20 minutes later while being transported to hospital.
Murder charges against both women were eventually dropped after authorities found they had been unwittingly used as instruments of assassination, though Hương pleaded guilty to a lesser charge. The four North Korean spy suspects fled to Pyongyang. The incident triggered a serious diplomatic crisis between Malaysia and North Korea, culminating in both countries severing diplomatic ties.