N. Korea leader’s half-brother killed at airport

Tokyo • The target: the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The setting: an airport in Malaysia. And a possible suspect: A woman killer carrying a cloth treated with lethal liquid.

It adds up to a case that seems ripped straight from the pages of spy novel. Even by the standards of sensational news from North Korea, the details that emerged Tuesday were astounding.

Malaysian police confirmed that Kim Jong Nam — who was thought to be 45 and living outside North Korea for more than a decade — had been killed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport early Monday while waiting for a flight to Macau, a center of gambling and nightlife that was among his haunts.

"A woman came from behind and covered his face with a cloth laced with a liquid," police Chief Fadzil Ahmat told Bernama, the Malaysian state news agency. The man was seen struggling for help and sought assistance from airport staff, he said. He died on the way to a hospital, Fadzil said. His statement came after South Korean news outlets reported an even more outlandish version of events: that Kim Jong Nam was pricked with poisoned needles by two female agents who escaped by taxi. North Korea, with its secretive and idiosyncratic leadership, is often the subject of dramatic tales that turn out to be exaggerated or flat-out wrong. But the Malaysian police chief's confirmation suggests at least part of this story is true. Just three years ago, Kim Jong Un had his uncle executed on suspicion of building an alternate power base.