Kim Jong-nam's family rescued to safety

[angelburst29]

Who is Kim Han-sol?

He expressed a strong desire for the reunification of the country. "I also dream of reunification because it's really sad that I can't go to the other side [South Korea] and see my friends there."

He added: "It is just political issues that divide the nation in half."

Awhile back, when baby Bush was President, I remember reading about some kind of document or Treaty towards a North and South Korean unification.
Kim Han-sol's expressed desire for "reunification of the country" might have been the same views, that his Father, Kim Jong-nam held, although he was not politically active and moved out of North Korea. I don't know, if "reunification" had anything to do with his death or what the exact motive was? No additional information seems to be coming out, in any of the investigations?

Down the Old Memory Hole How Bush Jr Quashed the Movement for Korean Reunification
http://dissidentvoice.org/2017/04/down-the-old-memory-hole/

April 2nd, 2017 - With the Trump administration and the mainstream media gleefully beating the war drums for a military attack on North Korea, there’s crucial historical context missing from the corporate media coverage of this issue. I suspect most Americans have never heard of of Korea’s “Sunshine Policy” (1998-2008), aimed at eventual reunification of North and South Korea. We certainly heard about it here in New Zealand, thanks to the mass revolt in Bush’s diplomatic corps when he deliberately sabotaged this policy to isolate and provoke North Korea into amping up their their nuclear weapons program.

On learning of the Sunshine Policy, my Americans friends are shocked to learn that North Korea moved from active engagement in 1998 in nuclear disarmament and negotiations towards Korean reunification to announcing the their first nuclear weapons test in 2006. They also have no idea of the deliberate steps the Bush/Cheney administration took to sink the Sunshine Policy, nor their devious motives for doing so.

Carter’s 1994 Agreed Framework and the Origins of South Korea’s Sunshine Policy - The Sunshine Policy grew out of a treaty (the Agreed Framework) former president Jimmy Carter negotiated with late North Korean President Kim Il Sung in 1994. In return for North Korea agreeing to cease its nuclear weapons program and permitting the return of International Atomic Energy (IAEA) inspectors, the US agreed to replace the power lost when North Korea closed its Yongbyon reactor with oil shipments and two modern nuclear plants.

The North Koreans kept this agreement, and in 1998 South Korean president Kim Dae Jung began his Sunshine Policy aimed at lessening tensions and building reconciliation between North and South Korea. In June 2000, leaders of the two countries held a historic three-day summit in Pyongyang (the first in 50 years) and signed a pact in which they agreed to work towards reunification. Among other provisions, the agreement included substantial South Korean humanitarian aid to address North Korea’s chronic food shortages, loosening of restrictions on South Korean investment in North Korea, the opening of North Korea’s Kumgang Tourist Region to South Korean visitors, the establishment of a family reunification program, the opening of rail links through the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and a worker exchange program permitting South Korean workers to work at North Korea’s Kaesang Industrial Park.

In 2000, Kim Dae Jung won the Nobel Peace Prize for his successful implementation of the Sunshine Policy.

Why Bush Deliberately Sabotaged the Sunshine Policy - Unfortunately George W Bush, who took office in 2001, had very different plans for the Korean peninsula. In his view, a paranoid militarist North Korean threatening US allies South Korea and Japan was the most potent argument he had to justify his obsession with building a missile defense system. Once Japan joined the effort to normalize relations with North Korea, the neocons in his administration also had real concerns about the potential threat to US strategic dominance in the region.

In “Blame Bush for North Korea’s Nukes”, journalist Barbara O’Brien gives a blow by blow description of Bush’s calculated efforts to derail the Sunshine Policy, starting with his refusal to meet with Nobel Prize Winner Kim Dae Jung during his March 2001 visit to Washington. In January 2002, Bush would make his infamous Axis of Evil speech, including North Korea with Iraq and Iran as states deliberately sponsoring terrorism and seeking weapons of mass destruction. In October 2002, a month after Japan joined the diplomatic effort to normalize relations with North Korea, he accused the latter (with even flimsier evidence than his administration put forward for Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction) of secretly developing a program to enrich uranium to weapons grade and unilaterally cut off oil shipments the US committed to under the 1994 Agreed Framework.

Bush would go on to pull US troops out of North Korea, where they had been working cooperatively with the North Korean Army searching for the remains of US army personnel killed in the Korean War.

As O’Brien asserts in her series, the immediate trigger for these moves was a visit by Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi to North Korea in a first effort to normalize relations between the two countries. In the view of the Bush administration, an independent economic-political block consisting of Japan and a unified Korea posed a serious strategic threat to US dominance in Asia and had to be stopped. Her arguments make sense in view of the fact that direct US military occupation of South Korea only ended in 1994, a year after the South Korean people overthrew the last US-installed puppet dictator.

Provoking North Korea into Resuming Their Nuclear Weapons Program - In the face of growing belligerence and military threats from the US, in 2003 North Korea announced they were withdrawing from the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty and restarted the nuclear reactor frozen by the 1994 Agreed Framework. They also announced they were restarting their nuclear weapons program and long range missile testing. In 2004, they would announce they had successfully manufactured a nuclear weapon and in 2006 test their first nuclear weapon

Whereas there was no evidence they had nuclear weapons in 2002 when Bush first leveled accusations against them, by 2004 he managed to convince them their regime was under sufficient threat they needed nuclear weapons to defend themselves – he also managed to convince Congress that the North Korean threat justified massive expenditures on a wasteful and questionably effective missile defense system.

Meanwhile despite growing tensions related to North Korea’s decision to resume their nuclear weapons program, the Sunshine Policy would limp along until 2008. A shooting incident at the Mount Kumgang tourist region (in which a South Korean tourist was shot by North Korean soldiers) effectively ended it.

 

[angelburst29]

North Korea on Friday accused the CIA of plotting with South Korea to assassinate the isolated country’s leader Kim Jong-Un, amid soaring tensions in the flashpoint region.

North Korea Accuses CIA of Plot to Assassinate Kim Jong-Un
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960215000639

The CIA and Seoul’s Intelligence Services have “hatched a vicious plot” involving unspecified “biochemical substances” to assassinate Kim Jong-UN during public ceremonial events in Pyongyang, the Ministry said in a statement, Al Manar reported.

For the CIA "assassination by use of biochemical substances including radioactive substance and nano poisonous substance is the best method that does not require access to the target, their lethal results will appear after six or twelve months," the Ministry said.

The accusation comes as Pyongyang issues increasingly belligerent rhetoric in a tense stand off with the administration of US President Donald Trump over its rogue weapons programme.

The war of words between the West and the reclusive regime has spiked in recent weeks, and Pyongyang has threatened to carry out a sixth nuclear test that would further inflame tensions.

The CIA and Seoul's Intelligence Services have "ideologically corrupted and bribed a DPRK citizen surnamed Kim" to carry out the attack on Jong-Un, the statement said.

"We will ferret out and mercilessly destroy to the last one the terrorists of the US CIA and the puppet IS of South Korea," the statement said, adding that the plot was tantamount to "the declaration of a war".

"The heinous crime, which was recently uncovered and smashed in the DPRK, is a kind of terrorism against not only the DPRK but the justice and conscience of humankind and an act of mangling the future of humankind."

The statement did not give any information on how the plot was foiled or what happened to the alleged spy.

 

[angelburst29]

North Korea on Friday accused the CIA of plotting with South Korea to assassinate the isolated country’s leader Kim Jong-Un, amid soaring tensions in the flashpoint region.

North Korea Accuses CIA of Plot to Assassinate Kim Jong-Un
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960215000639

The CIA and Seoul’s Intelligence Services have “hatched a vicious plot” involving unspecified “biochemical substances” to assassinate Kim Jong-UN during public ceremonial events in Pyongyang, the Ministry said in a statement, Al Manar reported.

For the CIA "assassination by use of biochemical substances including radioactive substance and nano poisonous substance is the best method that does not require access to the target, their lethal results will appear after six or twelve months," the Ministry said.

The US and South Korean intelligence agencies handed over about 300,000 dollars to 'Kim', a North Korean citizen, to stage an alleged plot to assassinate North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, the country's ambassador to Russia said.

CIA, Seoul Paid Hit-Man $300K to Kill North Korea's Leader, Ambassador Claims
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201705121053551280-north-korea-leader-alleged-assassination-plot/

Speaking at a press conference in Moscow on Friday, North Korean Ambassador to Russia Kim Hyun Joong claimed that the US and South Korean intelligence agencies had handed over about 300,000 US dollars to 'Kim', a North Korean citizen, to assassinate North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un.

Kim Hyun Joong declined to reveal the full name of the failed hit-man, who was allegedly recruited by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) in June 2014, when he worked at a logging enterprise in Russia's Khabarovsk Territory.

A covert assassination of the North Korean leader was allegedly to be carried out during a festival with the help of biochemical substances, such as radioactive or toxic agents "in the form of nanomaterials" which would allow the assassin to kill Kim Jong Un without approaching him.

"Once, they [the CIA and the South Korean intelligence service] handed this person $20,000 twice and a satellite reception-transmitter," the ambassador said.

According to him, Kim was threatened with reprisals against his family and upon returning to Pyongyang, he received instructions from South Korean intelligence via satellite.

Over the last year, Kim and his US and South Korean intelligence contacts had four conversations, during which the alleged assassin was offered several methods of accomplishing the task.

In the second half of 2016, Kim was allegedly tasked with creating a "communications control point abroad to safely supply equipment, materials and money." To this end, as well as to bribe the accomplices, he was sent another $200,000, Kim Hyun Joong said.

During a meeting in the Chinese border town of Dandong in March-April 2017, Kim received another $50,000 and a new satellite receiver-transmitter. By the end of April, preparation for the alleged assassination plot was wrapped up.

It was conducted on a top-secret basis in order to prevent a war on the Korean Peninsula. In total, Kim received more than 80 orders from South Korean intelligence services, according to the North Korean ambassador.

He pledged to find and "mercilessly destroy the alleged organizers of terror from the CIA and the NIS who dared to raise a hand to the top North Korean official."

Meanwhile, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Friday that North Korea's intelligence services had allegedly named key suspects who they claimed were behind the planned attack on the country' leader Kim Jong Un, including NIS head Lee Byung-ho.

According to the news outlet, Pyongyang has named two other South Korean intelligence officers as well as Xu Guanghai from the company Qingdao Nazca Trade as suspects and demanded their extradition from whatever country they were currently residing in.

Pyongyang reportedly stressed that the suspects would be investigated under North Korean law, regardless of their citizenship.

Question comes to mind - if "agents murdered Kim Jong Nam with a banned chemical weapon VX" are the "the CIA and the South Korean intelligence service" named above, also behind Kim Jong Nam's murder?

 

[angelburst29]

Not sure what to make of this report? It's the first report that mentions a large sum of money ($120,000 in cash) in his possession on the day of his assassination.

Kim Jong-nam, the slain half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, had $120,000 in cash in his possession on the day of his assassination, which he may have received from the US intelligence services, media reported Monday, citing Malaysian investigators.

Kim Jong-un's Assassinated Brother May Have Received Money From US Intelligence
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201706121054555266-kim-jong-nam-money-us-intelligence/

On February 13, Kim, traveling by the name of Kim Chol, was killed at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport before boarding a flight to Macau, where he resided with his family in exile.

During his stay in the country, Kim met with a US national believed by Malaysian authorities to have close links to a US intelligence agency, the Japanese Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported.

Malaysian investigators suspect that Kim passed some intelligence data to his US contact, according to the outlet.

"It may well have been in return for the information he provided," a Malaysian official said, as cited by the newspaper, referring to the cash found in Kim's possession on the day of the killing.

The meeting may have caused Pyongyang's decision to silence Kim, the outlet suggested.

Kim was likely to leave the country without declaring the received sum of money, as he traveled with a diplomatic passport allowing him to avoid a number of normal checking procedures when entering and leaving the country, the same reports noted.

Malaysian investigators suspect that Kim was killed with a doze of the VX nerve agent, a substance listed as a chemical weapon by the Chemical Weapons Convention and classified by the United Nations as a weapon of mass destruction.

Two women, Indonesian and a Vietnamese nationals, were arrested and charged with Kim's murder while Malaysian officials are reportedly looking for seven North Korean suspects in the murder probe.

 

[angelburst29]

According to Japan’s Asahi Shimbun national newspaper, former South Korean President Park Geun-hye was making plans to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Former South Korean President Plotted to Kill North Korean Leader
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960405000778

The national daily reported on Monday citing unnamed sources that ex-president Park, who was impeached due to a corruption scandal, signed a document approving a “leadership change” in North Korea back in 2015. South Korea’s intelligence agencies were to prepare operations to carry out the plan.

The report noted that the plotters considered arranging accidents, with a car accident or the derailment of a train carrying Kim Jong-un on the table.
Park’s administration also reportedly considered staging a coup in North Korea.

Asahi Shimbun noted that the military activities of South Korea’s neighbor, including its nuclear arms development programs, apparently motivated the alleged plot.

However, according to the daily, the plans to assassinate the North Korean leader were not picked up by President Moon Jae-in’s administration after Park’s impeachment.

Tension between Seoul and Pyongyang spiked in August of 2015 as the countries exchanged fire after the North fired a projectile at the border city of Yeoncheon.

In May, North Korea accused US and South Korean spy agencies of plotting to kill Kim Jong-un with some “biochemical substances”.

North Korea’s Asian neighbors have been gravely concerned about its missile and nuclear tests for a long time. Pyongyang has conducted dozens of missile launches and tested two nuclear bombs since the beginning of 2016. The North consistently threatens to carry out these tests when Japanese, South Korean and US fleets are conducting naval drills in the region.

In April, the US deployed its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system in South Korea to protect the country from its Northern neighbor.

The administration of former South Korean President Park Geun-hye had several scenarios drawn up to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, according to a report by Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

Ex-South Korean President Park Reportedly Had Plot to Bring Down Kim Jong-un
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201706261054990706-kim-southkorea-park-plot-northkorea/

Park, who was succeeded by newly elected South Korean President Moon Jae-in in May following a corruption scandal and subsequent impeachment, had plans drawn up detailing several scenarios in which the leader of the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea (DPRK) could be brought down.

The scenarios included staged automobile accidents, train derailments and the staging of a coup, according to Asahi Shimbun.

Documents signed in 2015 by the previous South Korean president referred to the plans for an extrajudicial killing of Kim Jong-un as “regime change,” RT reported.

In early May Pyongyang leveled accusations at Seoul and Washington for seeking to assassinate Kim with what it referred to as “biochemical substances,” according to Pyongyang’s Ministry of State Security, cited by AFP.

Prior to Moon’s election, Park’s administration — following in the footsteps of the foreign policy of the US, Seoul’s most powerful ally — sought to increase its military posturing toward an increasingly isolated Pyongyang.

With the election of Moon, however, a liberal and former human rights activist with a background in legal mediation, Seoul has taken a more peaceful stance, suggesting a return to the negotiating table for the two countries, and a de-escalation of war rhetoric.

Moon has also called for a review of Park’s speedy installation of Washington’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system in South Korea, a move that Pyongyang, as well as China and Russia, have decried as unnecessarily aggressive.

Widespread protests over the THAAD installation by South Korean citizens have resulted in Moon’s call for an environmental review of the missile system that could take at least a year.

 

[angelburst29]

Is this the real reason, the U.S. is interested in North Korea?

North Korea is notorious for its totalitarian regime and human rights violations. Fewer people may realize the secretive country is also sitting on trillions in untapped wealth.

North Korea is sitting on a stockpile of minerals worth trillions
https://www.aol.com/article/finance/2017/06/29/north-korea-is-sitting-on-a-stockpile-of-minerals-worth-trillion/23008501/

Embedded deep beneath the country's mountainous zones are some 200 varieties of minerals, including gold, iron, copper, zinc, magnesite, limestone, tungsten, and graphite, Quartz reports.

Some of these stockpiles are among the largest in the world, and North Korea, a tiny and cash-strapped nation, frequently uses them to bring in additional revenue — no matter the laws against doing so.

The total value of these minerals lies somewhere between $6 trillion and $10 trillion.

But the country is too poor to create the infrastructure needed to export the minerals — at least in large enough quantities to make a dent in its overall wealth. Still reliant on China, South Korea, and Russia for its financial and energy needs, North Korea has only made small deals with neighboring countries.

Lloyd Vasey, founder of the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, noted recently that North Korea's mining production has fallen by roughly 30% since the 1990s.

"There is a shortage of mining equipment," Vasey wrote, "and North Korea is unable to purchase new equipment due to its dire economic situation, the energy shortage, and the age and generally poor condition of the power grid."

In 2014, Russia mapped out the construction of a rail linewithin North Korean borders. Though it ultimately fell through, the plan was to entice North Korea with workable infrastructure in exchange for use of its mineral stockpile.

North Korea has repeatedly tried to capitalize on its mineral abundance despite United Nations sanctions, according to Quartz. In August 2016, Egyptian officials seized more than 2,300 tons of iron ore from a North Korean cargo ship headed to the Suez Canal.

The large quantity of iron along with 30,000 accompanying rocket-propelled grenades marked the largest ammunition seizure in the history of sanctions against North Korea, according to a UN report published in February. The capture "showed the country's use of concealment techniques, as well as an emerging nexus between entities trading in arms and mineral," the report said.

In that regard, North Korea continues to face a catch-22 with its mineral stockpile. The country is too poor to use the deposits itself, but too volatile in its leadership to gain the trust of international bodies that may permit the minerals' export.

The deposits will continue to sit underground, unused and untapped, until surrounding countries figure out a way to make workable partnerships.

 

[angelburst29]

Two women accused of killing the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un pleaded not guilty to charges in a Malaysian court on Monday.

Women on Trial for N Korean Leader's Half-Brother Murder Plead Not Guilty (Video)
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201710021057858719-women-trial-north-korean-brother-murder/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suIbGgr5bpM (1:20 min.)

Kyodo reports that the trial over the assassination of Kim Jong-Nam, the half-brother of North Korea's leader, started at Shah Alam High Court, outside the capital Kuala Lumpur on Monday.

Indonesian Siti Aisyah, 25, and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, 29, are charged with murdering Kim Jong-nam by smearing his face with VX, a toxic nerve agent prohibited by the United Nations, when he was waiting to board the plane at Kuala Lumpur's international airport on February 13. Kim Jong-Nam died an awful death 20 minutes after the attack as a chemical poison hit his nervous system.

Both women, after the murder charge was read to them in their native languages, indicated through interpreters that they were pleading not guilty. They claimed that they were fooled into believing that they were playing a prank for a TV show. Women face the death penalty if convicted of murder.

Kim Jong-nam assassination immediately turned into a political issue as it caused a great scandal between North Korea and one of its rare allies, Malaysia. Both countries expelled each other's ambassadors.

In the course of the investigation suspicions fell on North Korea, however, Pyongyang has repeatedly denied its involvement in the murder saying the accusations were prompted by the aggressive campaign against North Korean nuclear program. At the same time Pyongyang claimed that the assassination could benefit South Korea amid the corruption row over its President Park Geun-hye.

The two women accused of killing Kim Jong-il's half-brother in Kuala Lumpur are due to go on trial in October. But a defense attorney for Siti Aisyah has said she was told she was playing a prank on him and has accused the Malaysian authorities of deliberately allowing key witnesses to flee the country.

A Fatal Prank? 'Killers' of Kim Jong-nam 'Face Miscarriage of Justice'
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201708151056470198-malaysia-assassination-korea-prank/

Kim Jong-nam was the eldest son of Kim Jong-il and was once expected to assume leadership of the isolated nation, though he fell out of favor with his father more than a decade before Kim Jong-il's death in 2011.

His half-brother, Kim Jong-un, took over after their father's death and is thought to be behind Kim Jong-nam's assassination in February.

Indonesian masseuse Siti Aisyah, 25, one of the two main suspects, told officials from her country's embassy she had been paid 400 Malaysian riggits (US$90) to play a prank on Kim for a YouTube prank show.

She said he was a complete stranger to him and had no idea who he was or what the baby oil-like substance was that she was told to wipe on his face.

It turned out to be a highly toxic chemical called Ethyl N-2-Diisopropylaminoethyl Methylphosphonothioate, better known as VX.

Kim died in the ambulance while being transferred from the airport to a hospital in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.

Gooi Soon Seng, who will be Ms. Aisyeh's lead defense counsel at her trial, said she had told him she had met a "Japanese man" called James six weeks before Kim's death.

He said she was asked to carry out a number of "pranks" on people including several at the airport, the last of which was the incident involving Kim.

Mr. Seng said that in the days before the airport incident James had told her she was "becoming a big star." He said she had not enjoyed her job as a masseuse and was hoping the YouTube prankster job could be her "new career."

In CCTV footage which will be shown at her trial, she can be seen walking up towards Kim and smearing something across his face at the same time as a Vietnamese woman, Doan Thi Huong.

Huong, 22, who was originally from Hanoi, has told investigators the same story and has said she and Ms. Aisyah were complete strangers. Malaysian police investigators studied the CCTV footage from the airport and spotted four North Korean agents were in the vicinity at the time of the incident.

The man apparently leading the operation was Ri Jae Nam, 57, who can be spotted hanging around outside a coffee shop only yards from where Kim was assaulted.

Ri and the three other agents immediately boarded planes and made their way back to North Korea via circuitous routes, including Jakarta, Dubai and Vladivostok.

The other agents were named as Hong Song Hac, 34, O Jong Gil, 55, and Ri Ji Hyon, 33. Four others who worked at the North Korean embassy and who were believed to be complicit in the assassination were allowed to leave Malaysia in the weeks following Kim's death after North Korea effectively held hostage nine Malaysian diplomats.

Mr. Seng said it would be impossible to get to the truth of what happened now the North Korean agents have flown the coop.

"This case is somewhat mysterious and it involves a question of politics. Nine Malaysians were held hostage in Korea and in exchange for those nine hostages four suspects were allowed to go back to Korea. Those suspects may be very vital to the defense but now that they were allowed to go back it has severely compromised the defense case… this could cause a miscarriage of justice," said Mr. Seng.

 

[angelburst29]

A senior CIA official at the Agency's newly-created Korea Mission Center has broken ranks with President Donald Trump, stating North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un is "very rational."

Senior CIA Official: Kim Jong-Un Doesn't Want Conflict, He's "Very Rational'
https://sputniknews.com/military/201710051057970924-cia-north-korea-rational/

Speaking at the CIA Ethos & Profession of Intelligence conference, Yong Suk Lee, Deputy Assistant Director of the US Central Intelligence Agency's newly-created Korea Mission Center, said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is a "very rational actor" who doesn't want war with the US.

"The last person who wants conflict [on the Korean peninsula] is Kim Jong-un. He wants what all rulers want — to rule for a very long time and die peacefully in his own bed. Bluster and rhetoric aside, [he] has no interest in going toe to toe [with the US], but wants to come to some kind of big-power agreement with the US and remove US forces from the peninsula," Lee said of the 35-year-old ruler.

He went on to criticize the "tendency" in the US to underestimate the" conservatism" of governments, which he felt was "the greatest circuit-breaker in any kind of conflict."

Lee's comments stand in stark contrast to conception of the North Korean leader held by the US President Donald Trump.

The North Korea expert is the first major US figure to challenge this tacit official line — and in doing so, indirectly contradict mainstream appraisals of the escalating tensions between Pyongyang and Washington.

On August 28, North Korea test-fired a Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan's Hokkaido Island — the missile landed in waters beyond the island. Trump reacted in an official statement, saying Jong-Un's message was "loud and clear."

Lee's call for calm echoes that of Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia, who said in September the United Nations Security Council should present a diplomatic framework within which the concerned parties could negotiate a solution to the crisis.

Nebenzia also emphasized that introducing more sanctions, as suggested by some UN Security Council members, wouldn't help ease tensions — after all, North Korea's decision to conduct the test launch after the adoption of sanctions clearly demonstrates such measures aren't effective.

 

[angelburst29]

North Korean embassy defaced ahead of Kim Jong Nam trial
The North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur was defaced with graffiti early on Monday, just hours before the trial of two women accused of murdering Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, was to resume, authorities said.

Malaysia agreed to Indonesia's request to free Aisyah, attorney general says

Malaysia agreed to Indonesia's request to drop charges against an Indonesian woman accused in the 2017 killing of the North Korean leader's half-brother, its attorney general said in a letter on March 8.

Malaysia frees Indonesian woman accused of Kim Jong Nam's poisoning

An Indonesian woman accused in the 2017 chemical poison murder of the North Korean leader's half-brother was freed on Monday after a Malaysian court dropped the charge in a case that drew suspicions of being a political assassination.

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[angelburst29]

Malaysia rejects call to free Vietnamese accused in Kim Jong Nam killing

Malaysia's attorney-general on Thursday rejected Vietnam's request to free a woman accused of the murder of Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korea's leader, and a court set April 1 for her trial to resume.

Vietnam asks Malaysian for fair treatment of citizen accused of Kim Jong Nam murder
Vietnam has repeatedly called on Malaysia for a fair trial of one of its citizens accused of the murder of Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of the North Korean leader, the southeast Asian nation's foreign ministry said on Thursday.

 

[angelburst29]

Vietnamese suspect in airport murder escapes death penalty after Malaysia reduces charge

A Vietnamese woman accused of killing the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un escaped the death penalty on Monday, after Malaysian prosecutors dropped a murder charge against her.

Murder at the airport: the brazen attack on Kim Jong Nam

Early on a February morning two years ago, a balding man in a gray suit entered Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur airport, glanced up at the departures board and walked to check in for his flight to Macau. Moments later, his killers struck.

A few steps away from a Starbucks cafe and a Puffy Buffy Malaysian food stall, a woman stood in front of Kim Jong Nam, estranged half-brother of North Korea’s leader, to distract him.

Her partner approached from behind, pulled from her handbag a cloth drenched in liquid VX, a chemical weapon, reached around his head and clamped it onto his face.

That was enough to deliver deadly poison to the portly 46-year-old relative of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Carrying a backpack containing $100,000 and four North Korean passports, Kim Jong Nam had been traveling under his pseudonym “Kim Chol”, police said.

After the attack, he approached a help desk and explained that someone seemed to have grabbed or held his face and now he felt dizzy. He was taken to the Menara Medical Clinic, a small glass-fronted surgery one floor down near the arrivals area.

It was too late. Kim Jong Nam died aged 46 in an ambulance on the way to the hospital.

The assassination has captivated the world due to its audacious nature and lasting geopolitical implications, with South Korean and Western officials accusing North Korea of a state-sponsored hit. Pyongyang denies any involvement.

The brazen murder was caught on grainy CCTV footage that was broadcast around the world, yet many details remain a mystery.

On Monday, Malaysian prosecutors dropped a murder charge against Doan Thi Huong, the 30-year-old Vietnamese woman who smothered Kim Jong Nam, after she pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of causing harm using dangerous means.

Huong was sentenced to three years and four months in prison but could be released as early as May for good behavior, her lawyer Hisyam Teh said.

He said Huong was not a criminal but by pleading guilty she had taken responsibility for her actions on Feb. 13, 2017.

Huong’s Indonesian accomplice, Siti Aisyah, 26, was freed on March 11 after a Malaysian court dropped charges against her.

Both women say they believed they were playing parts in a TV prank. Huong was wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with “LOL”, or “laugh out loud”, at the time of the attack. Their lawyers have maintained that the women were pawns in an assassination orchestrated by North Korean agents.

Four North Koreans who were identified as suspects by Malaysian police and had left the country hours after the murder remain at large.

 

[angelburst29]

A Vietnamese woman who spent more than two years in a Malaysian prison on suspicion of killing the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was released from jail and returned to Vietnam on Friday.

Malaysia frees Vietnamese woman accused of killing North Korean leader's half-brother

Doan Thi Huong was charged along with an Indonesian woman with poisoning Kim Jong Nam by smearing his face with liquid VX, a banned chemical weapon, at Kuala Lumpur airport in February 2017.

Malaysian prosecutors dropped a murder charge against Huong last month after she pleaded guilty to an alternate charge of causing harm.

The 30-year-old arrived at Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport, just outside the Vietnamese capital, late on Friday, where she spoke to a large group of media gathered inside the terminal building.

“I feel happy when returning to my country,” said Huong, who said she was looking forward to heading to her family home, a small town in the province of Nam Dinh, 130 km (80 miles) from Hanoi.

In a letter shared by Huong’s lawyers ahead of her departure from Kuala Lumpur, Huong thanked the governments of Vietnam and Malaysia for their support.

Her co-accused, Siti Aisyah, was freed in March after prosecutors also dropped a murder charge against her.

South Korean and U.S. officials have said the North Korean authorities had ordered the assassination of Kim Jong Nam, who had been critical of his family’s dynastic rule. Pyongyang has denied the allegation.

Defense lawyers have maintained the women were pawns in an assassination orchestrated by North Korean agents. The women said they thought they were part of a reality prank show and did not know they were poisoning Kim.

Four North Korean men were also charged but they left Malaysia hours after the murder and remain at large.

Malaysia was criticized for charging the two women with murder - which carries a mandatory death penalty in the Southeast Asian nation - when the key perpetrators were still being sought.

Huong, a keen singer who once appeared on the Vietnam Idol talent show, told reporters she had no plans to return to Malaysia soon, but was considering her future plans. “I still don’t really know what to do next,” said Huong. “But I think I want to become an actress”.

Slideshow (8 Images)
Malaysia frees Vietnamese woman accused of killing North Korean...

Murder at the airport: the brazen attack on Kim Jong Nam
Early on a February morning two years ago, a balding man in a gray suit entered Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur airport, glanced up at the departures board and walked to check in for his flight to Macau. Moments later, his killers struck.

A few steps away from a Starbucks cafe and a Puffy Buffy Malaysian food stall, a woman stood in front of Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korea’s leader, to distract him.

Her partner approached from behind, pulled from her handbag a cloth drenched in liquid VX, a chemical weapon, reached around his head and clamped it to his face.

That was enough to deliver deadly poison to the portly 46-year-old relative of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Carrying a backpack containing $100,000 and four North Korean passports, Kim Jong Nam, had been traveling under his pseudonym “Kim Chol”, police said.

After the attack, he approached a help desk and explained that someone seemed to have grabbed or held his face and now he felt dizzy. He was taken to a small glass-fronted surgery one floor down, near the arrivals area, but it was too late.

Kim Jong Nam died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital.

The assassination drew global attention for its audacity and diplomatic implications, with South Korean and Western officials accusing North Korea of a state-sponsored hit. Pyongyang denies involvement.

The brazen murder was caught on grainy CCTV footage broadcast around the world, yet many details remain a mystery.

On Friday, Malaysia released Doan Thi Huong, the 30-year-old Vietnamese woman who smothered Kim Jong Nam, after she pleaded guilty last month to a less serious charge of causing harm by dangerous means.

Huong, who was sentenced to three years and four months in prison, will return to Vietnam on Friday evening after being released early for good behavior, her lawyer Hisyam Teh said.

Huong’s Indonesian accomplice, Siti Aisyah, 26, was freed on March 11 after a Malaysian court dropped charges against her.


Both women say they believed they were participating in a television prank. During the attack, Huong was wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with “LOL”, or “laugh out loud”.

Their lawyers have maintained the women were pawns in an assassination orchestrated by North Korean agents.

 

[Palinurus]

As was already suggested in post #19 above (June 12, 2017), reports have recently surfaced again proclaiming Kim Jong-nam a CIA asset of sorts. The rumors are as of yet unsubstantiated and from an anonymous source.

Original source (truncated; behind pay wall):
North Korean Leader’s Slain Half Brother Was a CIA Source

Extensive coverage:
Kim Jong Un's assassinated half-brother had contacts with CIA: Report
Kim Jong-nam, half-brother of North Korean leader, 'was a CIA informant'

President Trump has stated: “I wouldn’t let that happen under my auspices.”
Trump says he wouldn't allow US to use Kim family as asset

Kim Jong Un's assassinated half-brother had contacts with CIA: Report

By conor finnegan Jun 11, 2019, 2:23 PM ET

Kim Jong Un's half-brother, who was reportedly assassinated by the North Korean regime, was a CIA source who met with the U.S. spy agency's officials on several occasions, according to a new book.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he would not allow that to happen, extending another olive branch to the North Korean leader as his diplomatic push to dismantle the regime's nuclear weapons program has stalled.

"That would not happen under my auspices," Trump said. "That's for sure."

Kim Jong Nam was killed in Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia in February 2017 by two women who poisoned him with the nerve agent VX. While North Korea has denied any involvement, U.S. and South Korean officials say the highly secretive country was responsible.

Kim Jong Nam's possible ties to the CIA were first reported in the new book "The Great Successor" by Washington Post reporter Anna Fifield. ABC News has not independently confirmed the claim. The CIA declined to comment.

While it may not be surprising that the CIA would want to speak with Kim Jong Un's half-brother, according to several analysts and former U.S. officials, it also is debatable how much information he would have to share, given that he lived outside the country for approximately 15 years before he was murdered.

"It would not be surprising if Kim Jong Nam had been meeting with the CIA, offering any insights into what he knew of the inner workings the Kim regime and trends among Pyongyang elites. However, given his exiled status, it’s hard to say how accurate those insights may have been," said Jenny Town, managing editor of 38 North, which analyzes North Korea.

But given how little the U.S. knew about Kim Jong Un when he succeeded his father and came to power in 2011, any insights into who he is and what he is like would have been valuable, according to some former officials.

"Picture Kim Jong Un as the bullseye with family, friends and associates being the concentric rings going outward. Kim Jong Nam likely had enough personal, intimate, and family information in his head to warrant an approach from CIA -- or any intelligence agency -- for debriefing purposes," said Darrell M. Blocker, a longtime CIA operative and now an ABC News contributor.

It's unclear when Kim Jong Nam first met with CIA officials or how often. Based in the Chinese enclave Macau, he was the oldest son of Kim Jong Il and was thought to be the heir apparent until he went into exile in the early 2000's.

Despite that exile, there has long been speculation that foreign intelligence agencies -- especially China's -- maintained contact with him, in particular, as a possible leader in case Kim Jong Un fell from power. That potential threat to Kim Jong Un's power was likely motivation for the assassination plot against Kim Jong Nam.

Kim Jong Un "has not been shy about purging, demoting, shuffling senior officials -- numbering in the hundreds since he came to power in December 2011 -- and instilling fear in the North Korean populace, but also among the elite who rely on his good will for their survival," said Jung Pak, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, who added that because of his brother's tight control of power, Kim Jong Nam -- like most North Koreans who live outside the country -- probably have little "access to the innermost workings of the Kim regime, much less on decision-making on the most sensitive issues, such as the nuclear weapons program."

Kim Jong Nam was in Malaysia that February 2017 when he was killed, reportedly in part to meet his CIA contact, according to the Wall Street Journal.

During the trial of the two women who conducted the assassination, police said he spent several days at a resort on Langkawi, a Malaysian island, where he met with an unknown Korean-American man. Malaysia has released both of the women -- Doan Thi Huong of Vietnam and Siti Aisyah of Indonesia, who said that they believed they were participating in a TV prank show.

Edited to add SOTT coverage here:
Murdered half-brother of North Korean leader was CIA informant: Wall Street Journal -- Sott.net