Kim Jong-nam murder trial in Malaysia resumes

Shah Alam (Malaysia) : A Malaysian court on Wednesday resumed the trial of two women allegedly involved in the 2017 murder of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's half brother Kim Jong-nam.

Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong and Indonesian Siti Aisyah, the two main suspects, were escorted by security officers into the court building in Shah Alam, east of Kuala Lumpur, Efe news reported.

The two women wore bullet proof vests and walked with their heads down. They face capital punishment if found guilty of poisoning Kim Jong-nam at the Kuala Lumpur airport.

The women were accused of smearing the the VX nerve agent, a weapon of mass destruction, with their bare hands on Kim Jong-nam's face on February 13, 2017, when he was about to leave for Macau, where he lived in exile.

They have pleaded not guilty and claimed they were hired by a group of men, identified as North Koreans by the Malaysian police, to carry out a series of pranks for a television channel.

The murder trial began in October 2017 with witnesses, forensic doctors, police investigators and airport workers, among others, from the prosecution's side.

Kim died half an hour after he was attacked in international departures terminal, before he was due to board the flight.

Doan Thi Huong and Siti Aisyah approached him at the luggage check-in counter and smeared his face with a liquid that they believed was "harmless".