Nine years ago today, Kuala Lumpur airport was experiencing a typically busy day, with commuters and holidaymakers passing through the Malaysian capital.

Blending in amongst fellow travellers was a middle-aged North Korean man dressed casually in a blue polo shirt and jeans, making his way around the budget airlines terminal whilst awaiting his flight back to Macau.

Kim Chol was the alias used by Kim Jong-nam – the estranged half-brother of Kim Jong-un, and the individual originally tipped to succeed his father as North Korean supreme leader.

At approximately 9am, Kim stood near a self check-in kiosk when a woman suddenly approached and smeared an oily substance across his face before fleeing.

A second woman then appeared, placing her hands over his eyes and dragging them down across his mouth, before offering an apology and vanishing into the crowd, reports the Mirror US.

Kim, already experiencing dizziness and discomfort, located an airport receptionist to report what had happened. He was quickly transported by stretcher to the airport’s medical facility, where staff observed him sweating, unresponsive, and evidently in distress.

Medical staff administered atropine, adrenaline and tracheal intubation, but he died rapidly, within half an hour of the assault.

Subsequently, an autopsy confirmed the victim had been exposed to VX nerve agent, amongst the most deadly chemical weapons in existence – a compound that triggers swift respiratory failure by inhibiting the acetylcholinesterase enzyme. In Kim’s case, the substance had led to the failure of his lungs, brain, liver and spleen, as well as pupil constriction and involuntary defecation.

Officials noted he had been carrying approximately US$100,000 in cash and four North Korean passports, all under the name Kim Chol. His true identity was only uncovered a month later through DNA matching with his son, Kim Han-sol.

Within days, Malaysian police apprehended two women caught on CCTV – Đoàn Thị Hương, a 28 year old Vietnamese national, and Siti Aisyah, a 25 year old Indonesian woman.

The women maintained they thought they were taking part in a harmless prank for a television show, but were nonetheless both charged with murder – which carried a compulsory death sentence under Malaysian law.

During their testimony, they claimed to have been recruited separately, months prior to the incident, by men purporting to be Japanese, Chinese or South Korean producers. These men hired them to approach strangers in public places like shopping centres or hotels and briefly touch their faces to elicit a reaction.

Investigations showed that Aisyah had indeed performed similar “pranks” on at least 10 separate occasions, while Hương had done so four times. Both women were promised US$100 for the airport stunt.

The main perpetrators behind the incident were identified by police as North Korean men, including one named Ri Ji-u, who was saved on Aisyah’s phone under the alias “James.”

Following the assault, airport CCTV captured the women washing their hands in the airport toilets – a procedure consistent with handling VX residue.

Prosecutors eventually conceded that the women had indeed been unwittingly utilised as delivery systems for the nerve agent. Each woman carried one non-lethal component that became lethal when combined.

Years later, in March 2019, Aisyah’s murder charge was dismissed following a request from the Indonesian government.

Hương was incarcerated but her charge was subsequently reduced – she pleaded guilty to causing harm with dangerous weapons. She was released in May 2019.

As anticipated, international diplomacy and media focus swiftly shifted towards North Korea, as four North Korean men – later identified as intelligence agents – were seen on CCTV departing Malaysia just hours after being near the scene of the incident.

They separated, travelling through Jakarta, Dubai and Vladivostok before arriving in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.

North Korea, however, did not admit liability and claimed that Kim died of a heart attack. The Malaysian police dismissed these claims, stating they were collaborating with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to identify the deadly substance used in the attack.

Kim Jong-nam had lived outside his homeland since 2003, and was openly critical of his family’s regime. South Korean intelligence sources suggested that his younger brother Kim Jong Un had issued a standing order for his assassination, and alleged this wasn’t the first attempt on his life.

In 2019, the Wall Street Journal reported that Kim Jong-nam had acted as a CIA informant, lending weight to the theory that his murder was state-sanctioned.

The killing ignited what remains one of the most severe diplomatic crises in North Korean or Malaysian history to this day. The Southeast Asian nation revoked visa-free entry for North Koreans and expelled their ambassador – while Pyongyang prohibited Malaysian citizens from exiting North Korea.

When Kim Jong-nam’s body was returned to his family at their request, tensions subsided.

The incident provoked global condemnation, with South Korean officials labelling it as proof of Kim Jong Un’s “reign of terror,” and the United States reinstating North Korea as a sponsor of terrorism – citing Kim Jong-nam’s assassination among the reasons for the designation.