The half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has been assassinated in Malaysia.
A pair of female assassins believed to be North Korean agents attacked Kim Jong Nam at Kuala Lumpur airport on Monday.
The exiled older half-brother of Kim Jong Un, once heir-apparent to his father and North Korea’s then-leader Kim Jong-II died on his way to hospital.
Toronto Sun reports:
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Malaysian officials said Tuesday that Kim Jong Nam died en route to hospital after being approached by two female assassins at the Kuala Lumpur airport.
The female agents – believed to be North Korean operatives – reportedly attacked Kim Jong Nam with a chemical spray before disappearing in a taxi.
Kim Jong Nam, who was waiting to board a flight to Macau, was in pain as he sought help at an information centre, a source told the Associated Press.
He reportedly fell out of favour in North Korea after being caught trying to enter Japan on a false passport in 2001, saying he wanted to visit Tokyo Disneyland. He reportedly enjoyed gambling and has been living in recent years in Macau, Singapore and Malaysia.
Kim Jong Nam and Kim Jong Un have the same father, late dictator Kim Jong Il, but different mothers.
Since taking power in late 2011, Kim Jong Un has executed or purged a slew of high-level government officials in what the South Korean government has described as a “reign of terror.”
The most spectacular among them was the 2013 execution of his uncle, Jang Song Thaek, once considered the country’s second most powerful man, for what the North alleged was treason. The South’s government has said the North also executed a vice-premier for education in 2016 for unspecified anti-revolutionary and factional acts, and a defence minister in 2015 for treason.
As of midday Tuesday, officials in Kuala Lumpur were still searching for the alleged assassins.
