North Korea’s chemical warfare capabilities are receiving intense new focus Friday with the confirmation that Kim Jong Nam was fatally poisoned by a weapon of mass destruction, according to a report.
Preliminary autopsy results on his corpse revealed that the globetrotting playboy was felled by the VX nerve agent — the same deadly chemical used by Saddam Hussein during the 1980s Iran-Iraq War.
Two female assassins coated their hands with the toxic material — which has been banned by the US Chemical Weapons Convention — and wiped them on Jong Nam’s face in Malayasia’s Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Feb. 13, causing his agonizing death.
“I am outraged that the criminals used such a dangerous chemical in a public area,” Malaysian Environment Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar told Agence France-Presse. It “could have caused mass injuries or even death to other people.”
The revelation that VX was used in the attack has put North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un at the top of the list of suspects.
Jong Un, the estranged half-brother of Jong Nam, owns one of the world’s largest stockpiles of chemical weapons — ranking third behind the US and Russia, according to SKY News.
The country, known as the hermit kingdom for walling itself off from the rest of the globe, has accumulated 2,500 to 5,000 tons of toxic agents such as VX and sarin gas, the news outlet said.
It has also built eight chemical weapons production facilities in areas that include the northeastern port city of Chongjin and the northwestern city of Sinuiju, the Star Online reported.
”North Korea is believed to have a large stockpile of VX, which can easily be manufactured at low cost,” said defense analyst Lee Il-Woo at the private Korea Defense Network.
VX — also known as ethyl N-2-diisopropylaminoethyl methylphosphonothiolate — was first produced in the United Kingdom in the 1950s and can be manufactured at small, pesticide-producing laboratories.
“Chemical and biological weapons can be delivered through various means such as artillery, missiles and planes,” Lee said.
The colorless, odorless, oily liquid can kill someone in a snap by disrupting the transmission of nerve impulses in the central nervous system.
Symptoms — such as increased salivation, constricted pupils, blurred vision and tightness of the chest — occur within a few seconds after exposure.
VX delivers its quickest and deadliest punch when it’s released as a vapor.
When consumed in massive doses, VX typically results in convulsions, unconsciousness, paralysis and then death.
The two female killers were arrested for the Jong Nam slaying along with a male suspect — and all were still in police custody.
Seven other people, including a North Korean diplomat, were wanted for questioning in the case.