Malaysian police announced Friday that Kim Jong Nam, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s half brother, could have been killed by VX nerve agent, a highly toxic chemical compound banned by the United Nations as a weapon of mass destruction. Kim Jong Nam, 46, was once considered a potential successor to his father, Kim Jong Il, and South Korean officials have accused Pyongyang of ordering his assassination. VX nerve agent is banned by an international chemical weapons convention, but North Korea was not a signatory. North Korea has refused to acknowledge that the man killed in Malaysia is Kim Jong Nam, who had been living in exile in China. Another North Korean, a scientist working in Malaysia, has been detained.

Source: Los Angeles Times February 24, 2017 01:35 UTC