Malaysia says highly toxic VX nerve agent used in murder of Kim Jong Nam
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Banned chemical weapon VX is potent killer that lingers
View photosThe banned chemical weapon VX is considered by some experts to be the nastiest of the nasty nerve agents known to exist. With a consistency similar to motor oil, it lingers for long periods in the environment and even a tiny amount causes victims' bodies to flood with fluids, producing a feeling of drowning before death.So when Malaysian authorities announced Friday that VX was to blame for the Feb. 13 death of the North Korean leader's exiled half brother inside a busy Kuala Lumpur airport, it raised nearly as many questions as answers.First, with a substance so potent, how is it possible that the two women who allegedly attacked Kim Jong Nam with it could have survived? Second, given that particles can remain in the environment for possibly weeks after being released, why didn't the airport undertake specialized decontamination measures to ensure the public's safety?"The other chemical agents like sarin, tabun, those kinds of things, they're way below this. They're toxic, yes, but this is the king," said John Trestrail, a U.S. forensic toxicologist who has examined more than 1,000 poisoning crimes.He said an amount of VX weighing two pennies could kill 500 people through skin exposure. It's also hard to acquire and would likely have come from a chemical weapons laboratory, making it more likely that the attack was executed by a government. Police are seeking the second secretary of North Korea's embassy in Malaysia, but embassy officials have vehemently denied any involvement.He and other experts stressed the importance of having the results confirmed by an independent reference laboratory, especially given the nerve agent's rarity.VX is an amber-colored, tasteless, odorless chemical weapon first produced in the 1950s. When inhaled or absorbed through the skin, it disrupts the nervous system and causes constriction and increased secretions in the throat, leading to difficulty breathing. Fluids pour from the body, including sweat, spontaneous urination and defecation, often followed by convulsions, paralysis and death. Kim Jong Nam sought help at the airport clinic and died en route to a hospital within two hours of being attacked, police said.An antidote, atropine, can be injected after exposure and is carried by medics in war zones where weapons of mass destruction are suspected.But Bruce Goldberger, a leading toxicologist who heads the forensic medicine division at the University of Florida, questions how no one else fell violently ill in the attack on Kim Jong Nam, who had been living abroad for years after falling out of favor with his family, including North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.The two women — one Vietnamese, one Indonesian — recorded on surveillance cameras thrusting a substance into Kim Jong Nam's face as he was about to check in for a flight home to Macau, apparently did not suffer serious health problems. Malaysian police have said they were not wearing gloves or protective gear and that they washed their hands afterward as they were trained to do. However, authorities said Friday that one of them vomited afterward.Both have been arrested along with another man. Authorities are also seeking several others, including an employee of North Korea's state-owned airline, Air Koryo."If they used their bare hands, there's just no possible way that they would have exposed him to VX unless they took some sort of precaution," Goldberger said. "The only precaution I know of would be administration of the antidote before this went down."No passengers, airport workers or medical personnel who tended to Kim Jong Nam at the clinic or hospital have been identified as having been sickened. Tens of thousands of passengers have passed through the terminal at Kuala Lumpur's airport, used by budget carriers such as AirAsia, since the apparent assassination was carried out a week and a half ago.No areas were cordoned off and protective measures were not taken. When asked about it a day after the attack, airport spokesman Shah Rahim said there was no risk to travelers and the airport was regularly and properly cleaned. But officials announced Friday that the facility would be decontaminated."It's as persistent as motor oil. It's going to stay there for a long time. A long time, which means anyone coming in contact with this could be intoxicated from it," Trestrail said. "If this truly is VX, they ought to be calling in a hazmat team and looking at any place these women or the victim traveled after the exposure."VX, which is banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention, has been used before. The Japanese religious cult Aum Shinrikyo used the nerve agent in the 1990s, killing one victim they believed was a police informant.___Follow Margie Mason on Twitter: @margiemasonap
Kim killing airport 'safe' as suspects say they were tricked
View photosThe Kuala Lumpur airport terminal where Kim Jong-Nam was assassinated with a lethal nerve agent was given the all clear Sunday, as two women suspected of carrying out the attack insisted they thought they were taking part in a prank video.The scene of the brazen February 13 killing of the North Korean leader's half brother was swept by civil defence personnel in hazmat suits overnight, after Malaysia revealed Friday the victim died from VX nerve agent which is so deadly it is classified as a weapon of mass destruction.Two women can be seen shoving something into Kim's face in leaked CCTV airport footage of the ambush. He later suffered a seizure and was dead before he reached hospital.One of the two female suspects now in custody, 25-year-old Indonesian Siti Aisyah, reportedly told a senior diplomat Saturday she had been paid just RM400 ($90) for her role, adding she believed she was handling a liquid like "baby oil".The other woman in custody, Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, 28, told Hanoi officials she had been tricked into killing Kim and thought she was taking part in a prank for a comedy video.Police sealed off large areas of the terminal's two departures hall where the attack was carried out ahead of the sweep for traces of the highly potent toxin as a few curious onlookers watched.Authorities later declared the area safe after nothing harmful was found."The police cordon was at three areas -- the scene of the attack, the bathroom where the two female suspects washed their hands and pathway leading to the airport clinic -- (and) has been taken down," a police spokesman said.The operation came almost two weeks after Kim's death and puzzled some travellers.Student Hariz Syafiq, 21, who was due to take a domestic flight later, told AFP: "Yes, I'm worried a bit. Why didn't they quarantine the airport?"It's a bit strange."- Investigation ongoing -Indonesia's deputy ambassador to Malaysia Andreano Erwin, who was granted consular access to Siti Saturday, said she did not know Huong according to reports.Erwin added Siti did not want her family to "see her in this condition".Malaysian police have said one of the women arrested after the attack fell ill in custody, adding she had been vomiting.However, Erwin said Siti was physically healthy while Vietnamese officials said Huong was "in stable health".Detectives are also holding a North Korean man but want to speak to seven other North Koreans, four of whom are thought to have fled to Pyongyang.Selangor state police chief Abdul Samah Mat told reporters Sunday an investigation was ongoing at an apartment complex in Kuala Lumpur in connection with the four North Koreans believed to have left Malaysia on the same day as the killing.He added that samples from the address had been sent for chemical analysis.One man wanted for questioning believed to still be in Malaysia is senior North Korean embassy official Hyon Kwang Song, who enjoys diplomatic immunity.The news Friday that lethal VX nerve agent was used in the attack sparked anger in Malaysia and brought condemnation from South Korea, which has pointed the finger at the North over Kim's death.Seoul slammed the use of the toxin as a "blatant violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and other international norms".
