This was published 6 years ago
North Korean spies missing from trial as Kim Jong-nam's alleged killers plead not guilty
By Lindsay Murdoch
As Kim Jong-nam walked towards an Air Asia check-in-kiosk shortly before 9am on February 13 four - possibly five - suspected North Korean spies were watching in the busy departure hall of Kuala Lumpur airport.
But none of them will be among up to 40 witnesses and experts testifying at the trial of two Asian women charged with an audacious Cold War-style political assassination that shocked the world and sparked a diplomatic crisis.
Siti Aisyah, 25, of Indonesia and Doan Thi Huong,28, from Vietnam, face execution if convicted of smearing the deadly nerve agent VX on Mr Kim's face after a 23-day trial in Malaysia's High Court, which began on Monday.
Both Ms Siti and Ms Doan pleaded not guilty on Monday after the murder charge was read out through interpreters in both the Indonesian and Vietnamese languages.
Kim Jong-nam was assassinated at Kuala Lumpur airport.Credit: AP
CCTV footage seen before the trial began showed one of the suspected spies monitored the attack from a coffee shop.
Another pulling a black roller-bag lurked as Mr Kim stumbled towards a medical clinic.
The suspect watched through a glass window as the elder estranged brother of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un slumped unconsciousness on a chair.
The court has charged four people who have not been named with murder alongside Ms Siti and Ms Doan.
Indonesian suspect Siti Aisyah, left, and Vietnamese suspect Doan Thi Huong in March.Credit: AP
They are believed to be four of the suspected spies who flew out of Kuala Lumpur immediately after the attack, taking a circuitous route to Pyongyang.
They were home by the time South Korean media broke news of the assassination, one of many North Korean spies have carried out in foreign countries over decades.
Kim Jong-nam, in grey, gestures towards his face while talking to airport security shortly before his death.Credit: Fuji TV/AP
"We believe the main suspects are the four North Koreans that have left the country," Gooi Soon Seng, a lawyer for Ms Siti, told a pre-trial hearing in July.
"If we were able to arrest them everything would be as clear as daylight," he said.
Ri Jong-chol, a North Korean, was held briefly in Malaysian police custody after the killing of Kim Jong-nam.Credit: thestar.com
Ms Siti and Ms Doan have told their lawyers they believed they were participating in a reality television prank show and had no knowledge they were carrying out a deadly attack.
Diplomats say that for several days after her arrest Ms Siti believed she was being held in jail as part of the prank and complained she hadn't been paid.
There is a growing rift between Malaysia and North Korea over the death of Kim Jong-nam.Credit: AP
They said it wasn't until she was shown a newspaper article that she broke down and wept.
Defence lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik said his client Ms Doan "has a good defence and we have the evidence to support it."
This photo released on March 16, 2017, shows Interpol's red notice for North Korea's Song Hak Hong. Credit: AP
"We are fairly confident that at the end of the trial they will probably be acquitted," he said.
Prosecutors will present evidence at the trial that both Ms Siti and Ms Doan went to an airport toilet and washed their hands after the attack, and are expected to argue this proves foreknowledge of the killing.
But the defence is expected to argue the women were only doing what the North Koreans told them to do and were unaware what was on their hands.
Under Malaysian law prosecutors have to prove there was an intention to kill for there to be a conviction.
Mr Kim, the 45 year-old eldest son of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, had lived in exile for a decade after a falling out with his younger sibling Kim Jong-un, whose nuclear program is causing global alarm.
Kim Jong-nam, who told Japanese media he was opposed to dynastic succession in North Korea, had been living in Macau with his wife and 21 year-old son Kim Han-sol, and frequently visited casinos across Asia.
Kim Jong-nam survived an assassination attempt in 2012.
The Wall Street Journal on Monday quoted North Korean dissidents saying there were "attempts by several parties to interfere" when they helped fly family members to a secure location from Macau in February, fearing they were also being targeted.
Mr Kim Han-sol had also criticised the regime in Pyongyang.
The four suspected spies charged in Malaysia's court with the murder are unlikely to be brought to Malaysia to face justice because Kuala Lumpur doesn't have an extradition treaty with Pyongyang.
Neither are three other North Korean men, one of them a diplomat, who were allowed to leave Kuala Lumpur in a deal with Pyongyang to secure the release of Malaysians who had been barred from leaving North Korea, at the height of a fierce row between the countries.
Police wanted to also question the men over the killing.