TWO women have pleaded not guilty to killing the half-brother of North Korea’s leader as their trial started in Malaysia.
Siti Aisyah, from Indonesia, and Doan Thi Huong, from Vietnam, entered their pleas at Malaysia’s High Court, nearly eight months after the airport assassination.
The pair could face the death penalty if convicted.
They are suspected of smearing Kim Jong Nam’s face with the banned VX nerve agent at a crowded airport terminal in Kuala Lumpur n February 13, killing him within about 20 minutes.
The women say they thought they were playing a harmless prank for a hidden-camera show. They are the only suspects in custody in a killing that South Korea’s spy agency said was part of a five-year plot by Kim Jong-un.
Police have said four North Korean suspects fled the country on the day Kim Jong-nam died.
Kim Jong Nam was not thought to be seeking influence, but his status as eldest son in the current generation of North Korea’s founding family might have made him appear to be a threat to his half-brother’s rule.
Pyongyang has denied any role in the killing and has not even acknowledged that the dead man was Kim Jong Nam.
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