More details are coming out about the assassination of Kim Jong-nam, the older brother of North Korean strongman Kim Jong-un. Most significant is the fact that Malaysian authorities arrested an Asian woman believed to have been involved in the attack carrying a Vietnamese passport:
Malaysian police on Wednesday released CCTV footage of a woman who is suspected to be one of at least two agents who assassinated Kim Jong-nam, half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. [YONHAP]North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s half brother was murdered with poison in Malaysia, multiple sources including South Korea’s spy agency said Wednesday, with the local police tracking down two women and four men who may be implicated in the crime.Kim Jong-nam, 46, was at the airport to take a flight to Macao when he asked the staff for help after interacting with two “Asian” women. Kim died on the way to a nearby hospital.
The Malaysian authorities presume Kim was poisoned, although the details must be revealed through an autopsy.
Local law enforcement authorities have been narrowing down suspects based on security camera footage, with one of the six — an unidentified woman — getting arrested at the Low Cost Carrier Terminal at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
The arrested woman, born in 1988, held a Vietnamese passport with the name “Doan Thi Huong.”
“Suspect was positively identified from the CCTV footage at the airport and was alone at the time of arrest,” the Malaysian police said in a release. “Investigation continues and any further actions against suspect/suspects will be taken in accordance with the law.” [Yonhap]
Past assassins also traveled using passports from other countries so this standard operating procedure for the North Koreans. Here is something really strange about the arrest, the woman returned to the airport for some reason and was arrested:
Cameras caught one of the suspected assassins who was wearing a white long-sleeved T-shirt and short skirt with a cross-body bag. She looked like an ordinary tourist seemingly waiting for someone.
The two women were initially believed to be North Korean agents. But the Malaysian police detained one of them at the airport Wednesday morning and said she was holding a Vietnamese passport with the name of Doan Thi Huong born in 1988.
She was the one caught on camera and was alone when detained, according to local police. The woman allegedly fled right after the killing and went to a hotel. Police are investigating why she came back to the crime scene two days later; adding that they are looking for another woman and four men allegedly linked to the murder. They are also confirming whether she is really Vietnamese with diplomats from North Korea and Vietnam. [Korea Times]
It will be interesting to see if the Malaysian authorities give the ROK intelligence services access to this woman for questioning. Here is how the assassination allegedly was committed:
The Star, a Malaysian media outlet, cited a senior police officer in saying that agents “splashed his face with a chemical” in the airport’s departure hall at around 9 a.m. Monday “just before he was to take a flight to Macau.”
Kim Jong-nam was said to have arrived in Malaysia from Macau on Feb. 6.
“He told the receptionist at the departure hall that someone had grabbed his face from behind and splashed some liquid on him,” said Fadzil Ahmad, a senior assistant commissioner who serves as chief of the Selangor Criminal Investigation Department.
“He asked for help and was immediately sent to the airport’s clinic,” Ahmad continued, “At this point, he was experiencing a headache and was on the verge of passing out.”
The officer said Kim Jong-nam went through a “mild seizure” and that he was put into an ambulance and was being taken to the Putrajaya Hospital when he was pronounced dead. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
The attack happened while Kim Jong-nam was at a self check-in kiosk:
Kim Jong-nam was attacked by two women, believed to be North Korean agents. One grabbed him from behind and the other sprayed a liquid chemical on his face, according to Malaysian police. / Yonhap
The apparent reason for the assassination is that Kim Jong-nam was allegedly considering defecting to South Korea:
Another local North Korean expert claimed that Kim Jong-nam was planning to come to South Korea last year but failed because the South Korean government worried about Pyongyang’s reaction. It’s possible that is one reason Kim Jong-un may have ordered spies to take him out. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
North Korea meanwhile is demanding that Malaysian authorities not conduct an autopsy and that the body be handed over immediately:
North Korean government officials in Malaysia objected to an autopsy being performed on the body of the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Malaysian government sources aware of the discussions said on Wednesday.
The officials requested that the body be released to them right away, but Malaysia rejected the request, several sources said.
No decision has been taken on whether the body of Kim Jong-nam will be handed over to North Korea, the sources added.
Malaysian police on Wednesday detained a woman holding Vietnam travel papers, and are looking for a “few” other foreign suspects in connection with the death in Kuala Lumpur of Kim Jong-nam, police said. [The Star – Malaysia]
Finally Kim Jong-nam’s kids are currently all living in either Macau or Beijing to include his oldest son Kim Han-sol who had previously spoke out against the Kim Jong-un regime:
Kim Jong-nam’s wife is currently staying in Beijing with a son, while his second wife is living in Macao with a son and a daughter. All of them are currently under the protection of Chinese authorities.
The son in Macao is Kim Han-sol, who came into the spotlight in 2012 after being interviewed by a Finnish television station. He said he hopes for the unification of the two divided Koreas and wants to improve the livelihoods of ordinary people living in the impoverished country now controlled by his young uncle. [Yonhap]
I would think these kids especially Han-sol will have to keep a very low profile for their rest of their lives because it is pretty clear the Kim regime will kill them if given the opportunity.
Here is a very sad story in the New York Times about two Japanese men who have searched for six years for their wife and daughter that were swept away by the 2011 tsunami. Their search has now shifted to the ocean as they have increased their scuba training to look for bodies at sea:
Yasuo Takamatsu with his wife, Yuko, before her disappearance.
Yuko Takamatsu was somewhere in the sea off the coast of Japan. Two and a half years had passed since the tsunami, and no one had found her; but no one was really looking, either, except her husband, Yasuo Takamatsu, who loved her very much. Takamatsu first searched on land, at the bank where she vanished, and along the beaches of Onagawa, and in the forests in the mountains. After two and half years, in September 2013, when he still hadn’t found her, he turned to the sea.
He contacted the local dive shop, High Bridge, to ask about lessons. The dive instructor, Masayoshi Takahashi, led volunteers on dives to clean up tsunami debris along the coastline. Takahashi and his team had encountered bodies locked inside cars or drifting through the water. Takamatsu felt sure Takahashi would be the one to help him find Yuko. On the phone, he said, “Let’s just meet and talk about it.” At the shop, he confessed his plan. “At the age of 56,” he said, “the reason I’m actually interested in learning to dive is that I’m trying to find my wife in the sea.” [New York Times]
Chahee, a member of South Korean girl group Melody Day, performs during a showcase to promote the group’s new album “Kiss on the Lips” at a concert hall in Seoul on Feb. 14, 2017. (Yonhap)
The Stars & Stripes has an update on the brutal murder of an Okinawa woman by a Kadena Air Base contract worker who happened to be a former Marine stationed on the island. The killer’s lawyer has given the Stars & Stripes transcripts of interviews with him in an effort to show the guy is mentally incompetent. These records show how brutal the murder of this young woman was and why this guy should never be let out of jail:
Rina Shimabukuro is seen in an image from a Fuji Television broadcast. Kenneth Franklin Gadson, a former Marine working as a civilian at Kaden Air Base, Okinawa, has been charged with murder and rape resulting in death in the slaying of the 20-year-old local woman.
A former U.S. base worker charged with raping and killing an Okinawan woman fantasized about raping women for years and thought about shooting fellow Marines as a way of attempting suicide, his lawyer said.
Former Marine Kenneth Franklin Gadson made the revelations, including gruesome details of the crime, during a jailhouse interview with his lawyers. The transcripts were released to Stars and Stripes under the condition that they not be released in their entirety.
Gadson, who worked at a Kadena Air Base cable and internet company and went by his Japanese wife’s surname of Shinzato, has been charged with murder, rape resulting in death and the illegal disposal of a body in the death of Rina Shimabukuro, 20, who disappeared April 28.
Gadson was interrogated two months later when police said he confessed to the crime. He then took police to her body in a heavily wooded area.
The crime shocked Japan and led to a surge in anti-American sentiment on Okinawa, home to about 30,000 U.S. troops. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read the rest at the link, but I don’t believe for a minute that this guy had no intention of killing her. For example he claims he just happened to have a shovel in his car to bury the body because he keeps it there for gardening purposes. Who keeps a shovel in their car for gardening?
Kim Jong-un was finally able to kill his older brother and he had his agents resort to using poison needles again. Long time readers may remember that the Kim regime tried to kill ROK Drop favorite Park Sang-hak with a poison needle as well:
Kim Jong-nam
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s half-brother has been killed in Malaysia, a government source said Tuesday.
Kim Jong-nam was assassinated on Monday in Malaysia, the source said without revealing details.
Cable TV broadcaster TV Chosun reported that Kim was killed at an airport in Malaysia after being attacked by two unidentified female agents with “poisoned needles.” The suspects fled the scene and Malaysian police suspected North Korea was behind the killing.
If confirmed, Kim’s case would mark the most high-profile death under the Kim Jong-un regime since the execution of Jang Song-thaek in December 2013, the once-powerful uncle of the current leader.
Kim Jong-nam is the eldest son of late former leader Kim Jong-il and is living in a foreign country without holding any official title. He was born from his father’s nonmarital relationship with Sung Hae-rim, a South Korean-born actress who died in Moscow. [Yonhap]
For those that don’t know it has long been believed that Kim Jong-nam was China’s preferred back up plan if the North Korean regime was to collapse. With Kim Jong-nam now dead the only Kim’s left to rule North Korea are Kim Jong-nam’s other brother Kim Jong-chul who is considered too lady like to rule the country and his sister Kim Yo-jong is female and thus not a threat either. Plus both of them are part of his close inner circle where he can closely watch them.
That left Kim Jong-nam as a possible threat for someone looking to replace Kim Jong-un with another Kim and he is now gone. The only other possible replacement to Kim Jong-un that is not under his control is Kim Jong-nam’s son, Kim Han-sol who has been living in Europe. I would imagine he is some deep hiding right now after seeing his father executed because he could be next.
KBS is reporting that the highly controversial THAAD battery will be part of the simulated portion of March’s Key Resolve exercise between the US and ROK militaries:
Anchor: South Korea and the U.S. will stage a simulation of THAAD missile interception during the annual Key Resolve military exercise next month. The allied forces are also expected to see the participation of strategic assets such as the B-1B and B-52 strategic bombers.
Our Bae Joo-yon has more.
Report: South Korea and the U.S. are said to be planning to apply the “4D” operational concept in their annual Key Resolve military exercise next month.
During the Security Consultative Meeting in 2015, defense chiefs of South Korea and the U.S. approved the 4D operational concept, to ‘detect, disrupt, destroy and defend’ against North Korean nuclear and biochemical missile threats.
While initializing the preventive and preemptive strike drill, the allied forces
will stage a simulation drill to shoot down an incoming North Korean missile with a THAAD battery. [KBS World Radio]
Things can change very quickly in South Korean politics as ROK Presidential front runner Moon Jae-in knows very well:
South Chungcheong Governor An Hee-jung’s approval rating for this year’s election rose to 19 percent in the latest poll, proving him to be a formidable contender to frontrunner Moon Jae-in and raising the prospect of a hard-fought Democratic Party primary.
In a poll by Gallup Korea, the 51-year-old two-term governor came in second with 19 percent, trailing Moon, who won 29 percent of support.
While An is still 10 percentage points behind Moon, the latest poll is an encouraging sign for his supporters considering the fast pace at which his popularity has risen: 9 percent in a matter of one week.
The poll has reaffirmed the strong position the governor has secured in recent days, as seen by the growth of his public appeal, while Moon, who ran in the 2012 race and was bitterly defeated by President Park Geun-hye, is struggling to raise his rating beyond the 30 percent range.
Acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn came in third with 11 percent, up by two percent from a week earlier, demonstrating continued support from conservative voters disheartened by the Choi-gate scandal, which led to President Park’s impeachment.
Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung and Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo of the People’s Party followed with 8 and 7 percent each. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but what is interesting is that An Hee-jung is raising his poll number by making himself the only liberal candidate so far who has come out to defend the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system to Korea.
