Why North Korea Used VX to Kill Kim Jong Nam?
Why North Korea Used VX to Kill Kim Jong Nam?
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KUALA LUMPUR - The use of the highly toxic VX warfare agent to kill the estranged half brother of North Korea’s leader has raised questions about Pyongyang’s real motives in one of the strangest killings the world has seen.
Some say North Korea, in allegedly bringing a UN-classified weapon of mass destruction to kill a man at a busy international airport, intended to show the world what it can do with chemical weapons, which are easily forgotten amid concerns about the country’s advancing nuclear missile technologies.
But other experts believe it’s unlikely that North Korea wanted VX to be discovered. There’s no reason for Pyongyang to risk taking another hit when it’s already under heavy international sanctions over its nuclear programme. It’s also doubtful that the country would be suddenly willing to showcase its chemical weapons as a deterrent when it has never acknowledged their existence, the experts say.
For Pyongyang, killing Kim Jong-nam, who might have been seen as a potential threat to leader Kim Jong-un, would have been the clear priority that made any other consideration secondary, said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Seoul’s Dongguk University.
“They probably picked the deadliest chemical at their disposal because they absolutely didn’t want to fail at killing Kim Jong-nam,” Koh said. “The fallout of using VX at an international airport could turn out to be significant for the country, but I doubt that the North Koreans thoroughly thought this through.”
North Korea has denied involvement in the February 13 attack on Kim Jong-nam at Kuala Lumpur’s airport and also refused to confirm that it was Kim who died. With Trump in power, Pyongyang playing up, it’s time for the US and China to act on North Korea
Saying that one of its nationals died from a “heart stroke”, North Korea has strongly criticised the investigation by Malaysia, which has been one of its few legitimate diplomatic partners, and made repeated demands for Kim’s body.
The overwhelming presumption that North Korea’s government organised a hit job on Kim only strengthened after Malaysian police announced they found VX on his eyes and face. Analysts say it’s almost certain that the highly powerful nerve agent, which scientists say is capable of killing 500 people through skin exposure with an amount weighing as much as just two pennies, would have been sourced from North Korea’s state laboratories as its materials are tightly controlled internationally and hard to obtain.
South Korea’s military believes North Korea has one of the world’s largest stockpiles of chemical weapons with up to 5,000 tonnes that include sarin, mustard, tabun and hydrogen cyanide, in addition to V-type nerve agents.
If North Korea really did use VX to assassinate Kim, it would indicate a new level of sophistication in its handling of chemical weapons. The North Koreans probably needed to conduct many tests before figuring out the precise amount of VX that would kill Kim Jong-nam without harming the assailants or anyone else nearby in one of the world’s busiest airports.
While some Western analysts have argued through the media that North Korea might have used Kim’s assassination to draw attention to its chemical weapons, most South Korean experts doubt it.
North Korea, which has been pursuing nuclear weapons as an ultimate deterrent, has little to gain by highlighting its chemical weapons, which would only bring harsher punitive measures and put further pressure on the United States to put the country back on its list of states that sponsor terrorism, analysts say.
“North Korea was already under immense pressure over its efforts to develop nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles, and also its human rights issues. Things will get even more complicated for Pyongyang if its chemical weapons issues are thrown into the mix,” said Chang Yong Seok, an analyst at Seoul National University’s Institute for Peace and Unification Studies.
Perhaps North Korea expected that its use of VX would go undetected because only a tiny amount would have been needed to kill Kim, experts say.
Some say North Korea, in allegedly bringing a UN-classified weapon of mass destruction to kill a man at a busy international airport, intended to show the world what it can do with chemical weapons, which are easily forgotten amid concerns about the country’s advancing nuclear missile technologies.
But other experts believe it’s unlikely that North Korea wanted VX to be discovered. There’s no reason for Pyongyang to risk taking another hit when it’s already under heavy international sanctions over its nuclear programme. It’s also doubtful that the country would be suddenly willing to showcase its chemical weapons as a deterrent when it has never acknowledged their existence, the experts say.
For Pyongyang, killing Kim Jong-nam, who might have been seen as a potential threat to leader Kim Jong-un, would have been the clear priority that made any other consideration secondary, said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Seoul’s Dongguk University.
“They probably picked the deadliest chemical at their disposal because they absolutely didn’t want to fail at killing Kim Jong-nam,” Koh said. “The fallout of using VX at an international airport could turn out to be significant for the country, but I doubt that the North Koreans thoroughly thought this through.”
North Korea has denied involvement in the February 13 attack on Kim Jong-nam at Kuala Lumpur’s airport and also refused to confirm that it was Kim who died. With Trump in power, Pyongyang playing up, it’s time for the US and China to act on North Korea
Saying that one of its nationals died from a “heart stroke”, North Korea has strongly criticised the investigation by Malaysia, which has been one of its few legitimate diplomatic partners, and made repeated demands for Kim’s body.
The overwhelming presumption that North Korea’s government organised a hit job on Kim only strengthened after Malaysian police announced they found VX on his eyes and face. Analysts say it’s almost certain that the highly powerful nerve agent, which scientists say is capable of killing 500 people through skin exposure with an amount weighing as much as just two pennies, would have been sourced from North Korea’s state laboratories as its materials are tightly controlled internationally and hard to obtain.
South Korea’s military believes North Korea has one of the world’s largest stockpiles of chemical weapons with up to 5,000 tonnes that include sarin, mustard, tabun and hydrogen cyanide, in addition to V-type nerve agents.
If North Korea really did use VX to assassinate Kim, it would indicate a new level of sophistication in its handling of chemical weapons. The North Koreans probably needed to conduct many tests before figuring out the precise amount of VX that would kill Kim Jong-nam without harming the assailants or anyone else nearby in one of the world’s busiest airports.
While some Western analysts have argued through the media that North Korea might have used Kim’s assassination to draw attention to its chemical weapons, most South Korean experts doubt it.
North Korea, which has been pursuing nuclear weapons as an ultimate deterrent, has little to gain by highlighting its chemical weapons, which would only bring harsher punitive measures and put further pressure on the United States to put the country back on its list of states that sponsor terrorism, analysts say.
“North Korea was already under immense pressure over its efforts to develop nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles, and also its human rights issues. Things will get even more complicated for Pyongyang if its chemical weapons issues are thrown into the mix,” said Chang Yong Seok, an analyst at Seoul National University’s Institute for Peace and Unification Studies.
Perhaps North Korea expected that its use of VX would go undetected because only a tiny amount would have been needed to kill Kim, experts say.
(rnz)
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