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| Doan Thi Huong, (left) and Siti Aisyah (right) |
A Malaysian court on Wednesday charged two women
with murdering the estranged half-brother of North Korea's leader, who was
killed with a powerful nerve agent. They are facing death penalty if convicted.
The handcuffed
suspects were brought to court surrounded by masked and heavily armed police
and Special Forces for their first public appearance since they were arrested
two weeks ago.
South Korea says the government of North Korean leader Kim
Jong-Un ordered the killing of Kim Jong-Nam, who had lived overseas for years
but had voiced criticism of the regime, and engaged two outsiders to carry it
out.
Two women Siti
Aisyah, 25, from Indonesian and Doan Thi Huong, 28, from Vietnam, were held
just days after the killing at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on February
13, which Malaysia said was carried out with a nerve agent so deadly that the
UN terms it a weapon of mass destruction.
CCTV footage shows
two women approaching him as he prepared to fly to Macau and seemingly push
something into his face.
Kim suffered an
agonising death within 20 minutes of being attacked.
They were accused
of murdering Kim with four others.
Four North Korean
suspects fled Malaysia on the day of the murder, police have said.
Both female
suspects say they thought they were taking part in a prank video but police
have dismissed the claims.
The spectacular
killing sparked an international probe and lurid stories of Pyongyang's Cold
War-style tradecraft.
South Korea urged
the United Nations Tuesday to suspend its isolated northern neighbour, arguing
that the assassination showed Pyongyang was intent on using chemical weapons.
North Korea has not acknowledged the identity of the dead man
but has insisted Malaysia hand over the corpse, and says it does not accept the
findings of an autopsy.
A third suspect,
46-year-old North Korean man Ri Jong-Chol, is also being held but was not brought
to court.
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