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Un vs Nam
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Topic Started: Feb 15 2017, 03:19 AM (150 Views)
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George K
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Feb 15 2017, 03:19 AM
Post #1
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Kim Jong Un vs Kim Jong Nam:
Assassination of the half-brother
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TOKYO — The target: the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The setting: an airport in Malaysia. And the possible suspect: a woman carrying a cloth treated with lethal liquid.
It adds up to a case that seems ripped straight from the pages of a spy novel.
Even by the standards of sensational news from North Korea, the details that emerged Tuesday were astounding.
Today's WorldView What's most important from where the world meets Washington Sign up Malaysian police confirmed that Kim Jong Nam — who was thought to be 45 and living outside North Korea for more than a decade — was killed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport early Monday while waiting for a flight to Macau, a center of gambling and nightlife that was among his haunts.
“A woman came from behind and covered his face with a cloth laced with a liquid,” Police Chief Fadzil Ahmat told Bernama, the Malaysian state news agency.
The man was seen struggling for help and sought assistance from airport staff, he said. He was sent to a hospital in an ambulance but died on the way, Fadzil said.
“I have conveyed the matter to the North Korean Embassy,” he said, adding that an autopsy was planned to determine the cause of death.
His statement came after South Korean news outlets reported an even more outlandish version of events: that Kim was pricked with poisoned needles by two female agents who then escaped by taxi.
Police have since announced the arrest of a female suspect carrying Vietnamese travel documents, according to news agencies.
North Korea, with its secretive and idiosyncratic leadership, is often the subject of dramatic tales that turn out to be exaggerated or flat-out wrong.
But the Malaysian police chief’s confirmation suggests that at least part of this story is true. What is likely to take much longer to determine is whether the plot was orchestrated directly by Kim Jong Un, who recently celebrated five years at the helm of North Korea and is now locked in a showdown with the international community over his nuclear ambitions.
Regardless, it underscores the transience of power in North Korea.
Just three years ago, Kim Jong Un had his uncle — and Kim Jong Nam’s mentor — executed on suspicion of building an alternate power base. Meanwhile, a slew of high-profile defections have raised questions about the stability of the regime.
“Kim Jong Nam was involved in some funny business,” said Michael Madden, editor of North Korea Leadership Watch, a specialist website devoted to the ruling Kim family. He was rumored to have worked in computing in North Korea — now notorious for cyberattacks — and money laundering throughout Southeast Asia.
Analysts had long considered Kim Jong Nam, as the eldest son of second-generation leader Kim Jong Il, to be the natural heir to the family dynasty.
But this assumption was thrown into doubt in 2001 when Kim Jong Nam was caught at Narita International Airport in Tokyo, trying to enter Japan with his wife and son on fake Dominican Republic passports. Kim Jong Nam’s bore the name Pang Xiong — “fat bear” in Mandarin Chinese. He told the authorities that they wanted to go to Tokyo Disneyland.
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A guide to GKSR: Click
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.
I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles. - Klaus, 4/29/18
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Catseye3
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Feb 15 2017, 04:14 AM
Post #2
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I just can't find the words to convey how little I care.
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"I shall now begin to speak of purple, which exceeds all the colors that have so far been mentioned both in costliness and in the superiority of its delightful effect." -- Vitruvius, De architectura, 1st century BC.
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Axtremus
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Feb 15 2017, 04:47 AM
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My condolences.
- Catseye3
- Feb 15 2017, 04:14 AM
I just can't find the words to convey how little I care. May be Horace can comment on empathy.
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George K
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Feb 24 2017, 05:34 AM
Post #4
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Nerve Gas
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The substance used in the killing of Kim Jong-nam was a “VX nerve agent”, a highly toxic liquid used only in chemical warfare, Malaysian police have said.
The inspector general, Khalid Abu Bakar, said later that one of the two women suspected of involvement in the poisoning also suffered its effects: “She was vomiting.”
The findings follow a preliminary analysis of swabs taken from the face and eyes of the victim, who is the half-brother of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un. More items linked to the attack at Kuala Lumpur airport were still being analysed and the terminal would be decontaminated, police said.
VX – also known as ethyl N-2-Diisopropylaminoethyl Methylphosphonothiolate – is classified by the United Nations as a weapon of mass destruction.
Kim Jong-nam died on 13 February from a seizure on while being taken to hospital after complaining that a woman had sprayed chemicals in his face at Kuala Lumpur airport. Leaked CCTV footage shows a woman grabbing his face. Malaysian police had said earlier that two attackers rubbed a liquid on him before walking away and quickly washing their hands.
Asked about the possibility that North Korean agents might have imported the world’s most toxic nerve agent and deployed it in an international airport, a source close to the Malaysia government commented: “Not very diplomatic.”
Khalid said authorities were determining how VX entered the country and that the terminal where Kim Jong-nam was killed, in a budget airline departure lounge, would be decontaminated. As a weapon, VX does not quickly dissipate and can remain on material or the ground for long periods.
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A guide to GKSR: Click
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.
I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles. - Klaus, 4/29/18
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Renauda
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Feb 26 2017, 06:59 AM
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Okay, I understand that VX is a binary compound. So, suspect 1 smears the first agent (which allegedly thinks is a baby oil) on the man's face. Then almost immediately after suspect 2 comes along and does the same with the second agent that sets off the lethal reaction. Within seconds the victim knows something is dreadfully wrong, seeks help and is dead with 20 minutes.
Why did suspect No. 2 not succumb to the nerve agent as well? After all her skin too would have come in contact with the reacting agents. There is something in this that just does not make sense.
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