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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 11 OctOber 2017
Chemist says Kim had 1.4 times lethal dosage of VX on face

By EILEEN NG Thi Huong from Vietnam
Associated Press and Siti Aisyah from Indo-
SHAH ALAM, Malaysia nesia, pleaded not guilty
(AP) — The estranged half at the start of the trial last
brother of North Korea’s week to murder charges
leader had about 1.4 times that carry a mandatory
the lethal dosage of VX death sentence if they are
nerve agent on his face convicted.
after he was attacked at Raja’s finding of VX on the
a Malaysian airport, a gov- women’s clothing and on
ernment chemist testified Huong’s fingernails was the
Tuesday. first evidence linking VX to
VX was found on Kim Jong the two suspects.
Nam’s face, in his eye and Their attorneys have said
in his blood plasma, Raja the women were duped
Subramaniam, who heads by suspected North Korean
the Center of Chemical agents into believing they
Weapons Analysis labora- were playing a harmless
tory, said at the murder tri- prank for a hidden camera
al of two women accused TV show.
of smearing the chemical Under cross-examination,
weapon on Kim in the bra- Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, center, is escorted by police as she arrives for court hear- Raja said it wasn’t possible
zen assassination in Febru- ing at Shah Alam court house in Shah Alam, outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tuesday, that the VX used to kill Kim
ary. Oct. 10, 2017. was a “binary” concoction
VX and related products (AP Photo/Sadiq Asyraf) of two non-fatal elements
were also detected on the because high temperature
clothes the women were collar and sleeves of Kim’s he wiped his face on his Raja said. would have been required
wearing on the day of the blazer, probably because blazer after the attack, The two defendants, Doan to create VX.q
attack. trial Colombia vows to replace officers after coca clash
On Monday the
moved temporarily to a BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — munity’s confidence in Thursday as officers tried man’s office says eyewit-
high-security laboratory so More than 100 police offi- authorities.President Juan to eradicate illegal coca ness accounts point to po-
the judge, attorneys and
the defendants could ex- cers in a remote Colombian Manuel Santos said on crops.The government ini- lice as the ones behind the
amine the clothing before region where several coca Twitter Tuesday that he tially blamed the deaths on slayings.The United Nations
it was officially accepted growers were killed in an has instructed the nation’s a dissident faction of the says a humanitarian mission
as evidence. apparent clash with secu- police director to transfer demobilized Revolutionary it led trying to reach the site
Resuming his testimony rity forces will be replaced out 102 officers in Tumaco. Armed Forces of Colombia. Sunday was stopped by
Tuesday, Raja described in a bid to restore the com- Six farmers were killed on But Colombia’s ombuds- police using grenades q
VX’s lethal potential. He
said animal studies showed
the lethal dosage is 0.142
milligrams per kilogram
of body weight, and that
50 percent of the tested
population will die when
exposed to this dosage on
their skin.
Raja estimated the con-
centration on Kim’s facial
skin was 0.2 milligram per
kilogram of body weight.
Asked if this amount was
enough to kill him, Raja
said: “I can’t give a direct
answer on this.
Based on concentrate es-
timate, it is about 1.4 times
the lethal dosage.”
He acknowledged that
more of the poison might
be needed to kill a heavier
person but had no data on
it.
He said the VX concen-
trate in Kim’s eye was es-
timated at only 0.03 mil-
ligrams per kilogram of his
body weight, but that cor-
related to VX penetrating
faster through the eye than
through the skin.
VX was also found on the