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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's half-brother was assassinated with a lethal nerve agent manufactured for chemical warfare, Malaysian police said Friday.
Releasing a preliminary toxicology report on Kim's murder at a Kuala Lumpur airport, police said the poison used by the assassins was the odourless, tasteless and highly toxic nerve agent VX. Traces of VX were detected on swabs of the dead man's face and eyes.
The only known use of VX is as a chemical warfare agent and the U.S. government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes it as the "most potent" of all nerve agents.
"It is possible that any visible VX liquid contact on the skin, unless washed off immediately, would be lethal," the CDC said on its website.
All nerve agents cause their toxic effects by preventing the proper operation of an enzyme that acts as the body's "off switch" for glands and muscles.
Without that switch, the glands and muscles are constantly being stimulated, and eventually tire and become unable to sustain breathing.
Leaked CCTV footage from the brazen attack on February 13 shows the portly Kim being approached by two women who appear to put something in his face.
Moments later he is seen asking for help from airport staff, who direct him to a clinic. Malaysian police said he suffered a seizure and died before he reached hospital.
An autopsy ruled out heart failure, and investigators had focused on the theory that a toxin was applied to his face, in what South Korea has insisted was a targeted assassination.
Malaysian detectives are holding three people -- women from Indonesia and Vietnam, and a North Korean man -- but want to speak to seven others.
