Video appearing to show the assassination of Kim Jong Un's estranged half-brother in a Malaysia airport has been leaked and published online.
Doan Thi Huong
The CCTV video shows one female allegedly grabbing Kim Jong Nam from behind while another sprays a toxic substance in his face. The attackers then casually walk away.
Later in the footage, Jong Nam appears to tell airport security about the incident, motioning to his face.
Earlier reports stated Jong Nam told airport staff that he felt dizzy after someone grabbed him from behind.
Malaysia is protecting its “sovereignty and dignity” by expelling the North Korean ambassador, the prime minister said Monday, as relations between the countries frayed over the poisoning of Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korea’s leader.
In an attack many believe was orchestrated by Pyongyang, Kim died less than 20 minutes after two women wiped VX nerve agent on his face at Kuala Lumpur airport on Feb. 13, authorities say. The women, one from Vietnam and one from Indonesia, have been charged with murder.
North Korea has denied any role in the killing and accused Malaysia of conspiring with its enemies. North Korean Ambassador Kang Chol has rejected a Malaysian autopsy that found Kim was killed with VX nerve agent, a banned chemical weapon.
US deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-ballistic missile system in South Korea violates the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) and serves as one of the factors toward Russia's withdrawal from it, a senior Russian senator told Sputnik on Tuesday.
Parts of the THAAD system were delivered on Monday to the Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 43 miles south of Seoul, South Korean media cited the Defense Ministry as saying Tuesday.
This deployment is a violation of the balance mentioned in the New START treaty. This deployment of missile defense is one of the conditions for Russia's withdrawal from the treaty, as prescribed in the text," Viktor Ozerov, chairman of the defense committee in the Russian upper house of parliament, said.
Russia will deal with the challenge of a US missile defense deployment in South Korea, Ozerov told Sputnik, forecasting a draft of response measures by the military.
The Trump administration is now conducting a policy review to decide how to deal with North Korea’s threats, and there is plenty of talk in Washington about “kinetic options” — a euphemism for some kind of military action. Meanwhile, in Tokyo, some ruling party lawmakers are now openly pushing for Japan to develop the capacity to preemptively strike North Korea.
That’s the kind of talk that South Korea should be shutting down, Delury said. In addition to its nuclear and missile programs, North Korea has conventional artillery lined up along the demilitarized zone and aimed at Seoul, a city of 25 million people.
“The role of a South Korean president, whether liberal or conservative, is to be the person who gently takes that option off the table,” Delury said, referring to a preemptive strike. “The South Korean president has to be saying, ‘If you take out their missile pad, they take out our capital.’ But that hasn’t been happening.”
Park was immediately dismissed from office Friday after South Korea’s Constitutional Court upheld a legislative impeachment motion, ruling unanimously that she had “continuously” broken the law.
Elections will now be held in early May, and the latest opinion polls show Moon Jae-in, a progressive who unsuccessfully challenged Park for the presidency in 2012, holding a strong lead.
Interpol has issued a red notice, the closest to an international arrest warrant, for four North Koreans wanted in connection with the death of the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Malaysian police requested Interpol's help to apprehend the suspects last month.
"We have obtained a red notice for the four North Korean nationals who were at the airport on the day of the incident and who have since left ... we are hoping to get them through Interpol," Khalid Abu Bakar, Malaysian police chief, announced on Thursday.
An Interpol red notice is a request to find and provisionally arrest someone pending extradition.