Women accused of killing Kim Jong-un's half-brother plead not guilty

The accused women in the assassination of the half-brother of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, pleaded not guilty to murder in a trial that began in Malaysia on Monday.

Two female agents had killed Jong-un's estranged older sibling Kim Jong-nam on February 13, with poisoned needles and fled the scene.

Indonesian Siti Aisyah, 25, and Doan Thi Huong, 28, a Vietnamese, are charged with killing Kim Jong-nam by smearing his face with VX, a chemical poison banned by the United Nations, at Kuala Lumpur's International Airport.

Jong-nam had died en route to a hospital minutes after the attack.

The women, who had been working as escorts, said they were duped by North Korean agents into believing they were participating in a hidden-camera reality show, The New York Times reported.

 

The police have also named four North Koreans as suspects in the case and an Interpol red notice, an international alert just short of an arrest warrant, has been issued for them, who remain at large.

The prosecutors said the four North Koreans helped the accused women carry out several practice runs in Kuala Lumpur shopping malls.

"The prank practice carried out by the first and second accused with the supervision of the four who are still at large was preparation to see through their common intention to kill the victim," the prosecution said, in its charge sheet.

Defence lawyers demanded that the prosecution immediately names the four other suspects, who have also been charged, so they could prepare their case.

"The charge must be clear," said Siti Aisyah's lawyer, Gooi Soon Seng. Judge Azmi Ariffin dismissed their request.

The two women nodded their heads when the charges were read out to them by two interpreters in the Shah Alam court on the outskirts of the Malaysian capital. The interpreters said both women pleaded not guilty.

The Role of North Korea is being suspected for this killing by the Malaysian police. He was the eldest son of Kim Jong-il, former leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.