Focus on Vietnam bar owner in N. Korean murder trial
14 march 2018
KUALA LUMPUR: A Vietnamese bar owner was asked to act in a video prank show by a man wanted for the killing of Kim Jong Nam, the North Korean leader’s half-brother, but declined the offer, a Malaysian court heard on Wednesday.

In a sworn statement, the bar owner, identified as Nguyen Bich Thuy, said she then introduced the man to a friend and former colleague, Doan Thi Huong, a woman now facing trial in Malaysia for the killing.

A man who called himself Li had approached Thuy at her bar in Hanoi in December 2016, Thuy said in her affidavit, presented in court by Huong's lawyer, Hisyam Teh.

Li, who spoke fluent Vietnamese and said he was the child of Vietnamese and Korean parents, told Thuy he was hiring actresses for short films and offered her a role.
After she refused, she called Huong, who had previously worked with her at another bar, and asked her to meet Li, Thuy said.
"I remembered that Huong loved making films so I introduced Huong to him," she said in the affidavit made available to reporters after the hearing.


https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/ ... recent_box

Malaysian Prosecutors Rest Their Case in Murder Trial of Kim Jong Nam
By Editor on Apr 05, 2018

SHAH ALAM, Malaysia, – Malaysian prosecutors wrapped up their case Thursday against two Southeast Asian women accused of killing the estranged half brother of North Korea’s leader in a brazen attack at an international airport.

Prosecutors told the High Court that they were resting their case against Indonesia’s Siti Aisyah, 25, and Vietnam’s Doan Thi Huong, 29, after questioning 34 witnesses over six months. The judge said closing arguments in the trial, which could send the women to the gallows if found guilty, will begin on June 27.

Aisyah and Huang are accused of smearing VX nerve agent on Kim Jong Nam’s face in a crowded airport terminal in Kuala Lumpur on Feb 13, 2017. The women have pleaded not guilty, saying they thought they were taking part in a harmless prank for a hidden-camera show.

The two are the only suspects in custody, though prosecutors say four North Koreans who fled the country were also involved.

After the closing arguments, the judge will decide whether there is a case against the women. If he decides there isn’t, the women will be freed. If he decides there is, the women will be called to make their defence, which could take several months.
https://www.chiangraitimes.com/malaysia ... g-nam.html

While the women who killed the brother of the Great Leader of North Korea risk the death penalty for murder in Malaysia, the elephant in the room is the supposed commander of the killing. Kim Jong-un was recently on visit to Singapore, surrounded by his secret service agency that is the main suspect behind the murder.
However, affairs of state triumph over political assassinations, no questions were asked, and presumably the two women will be the perfect fall guys.

Kim Jong-nam murder suspects are trained killers, trial told
By Eileen Ng
28 June 2018 — 6:41pm
Shah Alam, Malaysia: Two south-east Asian women on trial for killing the estranged half brother of North Korea's leader are trained assassins who used "criminal force" to rub the toxic VX nerve agent on Kim Jong-nam's eyes and face, prosecutors say.

The women's claim that they were duped by North Korean agents into thinking they were playing a harmless prank for a hidden camera show was an "ingenious attempt ... to cover up their sinister plot in order to obscure the eyes of the public and the court," prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin told the court in his closing arguments.

Indonesia's Siti Aisyah and Doan Thi Huong of Vietnam, who face the death penalty if convicted, have pleaded not guilty to murdering Kim in a crowded airport terminal in Kuala Lumpur on February 13, 2017.

Kim died within two hours. The women are the only suspects in custody, although prosecutors say they colluded with four North Korean suspects who fled the country on the day of the assassination.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/kim-j ... 4zoek.html

Surprise, murder charges have been dropped against both women suspects.
Killer of Kim Jong Un’s half brother sentenced
2 April 2019
Two years after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s half brother was killed, a Malaysian court has dropped the murder charge against the only suspect still in custody, and she pleaded guilty to a lesser offence and is expected to be released soon.

The defendant, Doan Thi Huong, 30, was one of two women who smeared VX nerve agent on the face of Kim Jong-nam, Kim Jong-un’s elder brother, in February 2017. She was ordered to serve 40 months in prison.

The move to reduce the charge against Huong came three weeks after an even more stunning development in the case, when prosecutors unexpectedly dropped the murder charge against Huong’s Indonesian co-defendant and immediately freed her.

The two women had been the only suspects in custody after four North Korean suspects fled Malaysia following the killing of Kim Jong-nam in a Kuala Lumpur airport terminal on the morning of February 13, 2017.

Oh Ei Sun, a senior fellow with the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, said the decision not to charge the two women with murder likely marked the end of the case.

“This is pretty much the end as the real culprits are apparently hiding behind the veil of diplomatic immunity and state-sponsored sanctuary,” Oh said. Huong and the Indonesian woman, Siti Aisyah, have said they thought they were participating in a prank for a TV show and did not know they actually were taking part in a high-profile murder. The two were arrested and accused of smearing VX nerve agent on Kim’s face.
https://www.news.com.au/world/asia/viet ... 6b58dd55bd