I doubt Pyongyang will agree to have someone extradited, especially if they consider it politically motivated.
STAFOC was out in full force when Jong Nam's kid claimed his body to make sure no one has funny ideas.
Though I wonder if Mahatir opening informal relations with North Korea's going to bite him back.
"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"Still catching up on what's posted about this news, but I don't understand North Korea's reasoning at all.
According to one source, North is going as far as saying that the suspects are innocent, when it's quite clear what they did. That only makes North look suspicious; telling Malaysia to release them sounds like they are indeed linked to North. If North was actually innocent it would correctly identify this as a murder and then deny that North was involved with the suspects.
So let me ask, why did North commit this act if it just made things worse for itself? China banned coal imports and sent more troops to the border, Russia imposed new sanctions over the recent missile launch, the United States is reconsidering putting North Korea back in the state sponsor of terrorism list, and Malaysia is taking North's comments about the investigation as an affront to the country. South Korean prime minister (acting president) also called this an act of terrorism.
Ironic that the death of Kim Jong-il's son is drawing international condemnation, isn't it?
edited 22nd Feb '17 9:04:19 PM by Trivialis
Well, not wanting to run or help run a dictatorship helps.
More word salad from North Korea.
I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiotThe answe may be that the North feels it would have made things even worse if it hadn't commuted the assassination.
"And the Bunny nails it!" ~ Gabrael "If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we." ~ CyranMan, North Korea sure has a talent for pissing other people off.
China's "alliance" with them seems a lot like a Can't Kill You, Still Need You relationship.
Disgusted, but not surprised
The thing is they could get rid of Kim quite handily, but who would replace him now after Jong-nam is dead?
Si Vis Pacem, Para PerkeleThe worst part is, no one really knows what to do with the country even if Jong-un and his generals are dead. There's so many poor, uneducated, indoctrinated people that S. Korea won't be able to handle - I'd even says their deaths/deposing would causes the worst refugee crises in recent history. On the other hand, subjecting them to their present circumstances is unacceptable, too.
"The literal meaning of life is whatever you're doing that prevents you from killing yourself." Albert CamusSuspects include a North Korean diplomat and a staff member of Air Koryo. RMP wants to question them...
"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"I guess China might now drop DPRK from now on, considering the DPRK's latest anti-China tirade, but they are thinking of other options, such as replacing KJU with a more pliable leader.
I'm not sure about indoctrination outside of Pyongyang - some reading suggests that one of the barriers to integration of North Korean defectors in South Korean society is that they are very skeptical of authority. In the end, the main problem is that North Korea does not have a functional economy to feed anyone outside the elite. Any attempts to rectify that after the hypothetical fall of the Kim government will probably be on par with the Marshall Plan.
The Inspector-General of Police has stated that VX was used to assassinate Kim Jong-nam.
Taking a page from the Aum Shrinkyo playbook, I see. Are airports even equipped to detect chemical weapons?
I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiotOnly the dogs could, along with some chemical sensors. Although this would already mean dead people (and the dogs).
Si Vis Pacem, Para PerkeleKim Jong-nam's Assassins in Malaysia Used VX Nerve Agent. That's a Big Deal.
Kim Jong-nam’s assassination, which took place on February 13, has been surrounded by intrigue and speculation, ranging from the extent to which the North Korean mission in Kuala Lumpur provided direct support to the motivations of the two female assassins involved. Malaysian authorities have held individuals at the North Korean embassy in the country liable for involvement in the attack and the use of VX adds to the growing list of evidence pointing to the fact that this was a state-sanctioned assassination, despite ongoing North Korean denials.
North Korea’s use of VX is especially audacious given that it occurred at a busy international airport. VX is so dangerous that the median lethal dose is estimated at 10 mg. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that “people can be exposed through skin contact, eye contact, or inhalation.” The agent can kill within minutes of making contact with human skin. In Kim Jong-nam’s case, Malaysian authorities noted that the agent was detected in his eyes; chemical nerve agents generally work faster once they’ve made contact with mucous membranes such as those found in the human eye.
Remarkably, no reports have emerged to date of any individuals suffering from the VX use at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on February 13. Both assassins survived to end up in Malaysian custody and Malaysia has not specifically announced if any medical or airport staff who handled Kim Jong-nam’s body fell ill or demonstrated any signs of having come into contact with a deadly nerve agent.
Indeed, one of the remaining mysteries in this case now, with the confirmation of VX use, is how neither of the assassins nor any bystanders appear to have been affected. One possibility — suggested by the use of multiple assassins instead of one — is that a VX binary was used, but this has not been confirmed by Malaysian authorities. In a two-stage binary VX reaction, two otherwise safe precursor compounds synthesize the dangerous nerve agent. Accounts of the Kim Jong-nam assassination — including CCTV footage — have confirmed at least two women approached Kim, one of whom put him in a two-handed chokehold. (The U.S. Army first developed binary nerve agents to enable safer handling and storage.)
North Korea is not party to the Chemical Weapons Convention, but has signed the Geneva Protocol restricting the use of chemical agents in war. According to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, “at maximum capacity, North Korea is estimated to be capable of producing up to 12,000 tons of CW.” For wartime use, South Korea seemingly expects delivery of chemical or biological agents by conventional artillery shells. In 2010, after the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, fearing chemical use in the future, South Korea handed out gas masks to the island’s residents.
It’s unclear if the Kim Jong-nam assassination was meant to serve the secondary purpose of signaling to the world that North Korea definitively possesses the capability to synthesize VX. Immediately after Kim Jong-nam’s death, North Korea protested Malaysia’s intention to proceed with an autopsy and demanded that the body be transferred to its diplomatic mission. Melissa Hanham, an arms control expert at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, told The Diplomat that North Korea’s denials in the press and suspected attempt to even break into the morgue where Kim Jong-nam’s body also add confusion to the situation.
The choice of VX for the assassination, however, isn’t unprecedented. Japanese doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo used the nerve agent for the 1995 assassination of Tadahito Hamaguchi in Osaka, with VX emerging in the autopsy. Aum Shinrikyo also carried out an attack on the Tokyo subway with sarin, another nerve agent, in 1995, killing 12 and injuring more than 4,000. North Korea has used poison-laced needle attacks in assassination attempts in the past; South Korean authorities reported three such incidents against South Korean activists helping North Korea defectors as recently as 2011.
For the moment, the Malaysian investigation into the Kim Jong-nam assassination continues, but the confirmation of VX use by North Korea, while troubling, only raises more questions.
Update: Malaysian authorities have confirmed to Reuters that one of the assassins showed effects of VX exposure, including vomiting.
I also think NK have improved their chemical weapon-making processes over the last decades. Not signing the Chemical Weapons Convention was an advantage for them.
But who the hell gave them V-series agents? Moscow?
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.What's preventing them from making it themselves? I mean, it was originally produced in a pesticide lab.
edited 24th Feb '17 9:24:41 AM by carbon-mantis
Yeah, hard to believe but VX is almost as old as North Korea themselves. Hell they might have gotten some from Moscow way back in the late 60s.
Oh really when?IIRC, in addition to VX, they have access to sarin and tabun (or GA). And of course stuff like mustard gas and others originally developed in WW 1, the greatest hits.
edited 24th Feb '17 9:49:25 AM by TerminusEst
Si Vis Pacem, Para PerkeleHave we researched better treatment/inoculation agaisnt chemical warfare?
"The literal meaning of life is whatever you're doing that prevents you from killing yourself." Albert CamusThere are treatment options for nerve agents, but the timetable is very tight. And the airport medics had no reason to suspect something like that until it was too late.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.North Korea spy agency runs arms operation out of Malaysia, U.N. says
Glocom is a front company run by North Korean intelligence agents that sells battlefield radio equipment in violation of United Nations sanctions, according to a United Nations report submitted to the Security Council seen by Reuters.
Reuters found that Glocom advertises over 30 radio systems for "military and paramilitary" organizations on its Malaysian website, glocom.com.my.
Glocom's Malaysian website, which was taken down late last year, listed the Little India address in its contacts section. No one answers the door there and the mailbox outside is stuffed with unopened letters.
In fact, no company by that name exists in Malaysia. But two Malaysian companies controlled by North Korean shareholders and directors registered Glocom's website in 2009, according to website and company registration documents.
And it does have a business, the unreleased U.N. report says. Last July, an air shipment of North Korean military communications equipment, sent from China and bound for Eritrea, was intercepted in an unnamed country. The seized equipment included 45 boxes of battlefield radios and accessories labeled "Glocom", short for Global Communications Co.
Glocom is controlled by the Reconnaissance General Bureau, the North Korean intelligence agency tasked with overseas operations and weapons procurement, the report says, citing undisclosed information it obtained.
The Malaysian Connection
Si Vis Pacem, Para PerkeleNot surprised. They've been tasked to do that stuff to gain hard currency to remit to Pyongyang.
"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"Kim Jong-nam death: Two women to face murder charges
also
Kim Jong-nam: Who in North Korea could organise a VX murder? and a general look at the clandestine organisations of NK.
Si Vis Pacem, Para PerkeleThe White House is considering direct military action to counter North Korea
Great. Going after both Iran and Best Korea? Can we say "mess"?
I wonder what will become of it all, when the investigation finishes.
Final Fantasy, Foreign Policy, and Bollywood. Helluva combo, that...