North Korea

[-N-]

Assassinated by someone wearing an "LOL" shirt...

[MarathonTmatt]

With the inundation of news lately, the Kim Jong Nam assassination has been overshadowed for the most part. It's a twisty story, too long to fit in a tweet, but here's a little taste.

That's crazy! Some Spy Vs. Spy stuff right here, with young escort girls thrown into the mix

[GeneChing]

It might be the start of a major conflict.

In China, a sense of betrayal after the assassination of Kim Jong Nam


North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pictured on a South Korean news show about the assassination of his half brother. If North Korea was involved, it would be embarassing for China. (Jeon Heon-Kyun/EPA)
By Simon Denyer February 17 at 11:33 AM

BEIJING — China’s Foreign Ministry has been at its stonewalling, noncommittal best this week after news of the dramatic assassination of Kim Jong Nam, the half brother of North Korea’s leader, repeating the mantra that it has “noticed relevant media reports and is closely following developments.”

But behind the scenes, there is a sense of shock and dismay in Beijing, officials and experts say: If, indeed, Kim Jong Nam was assassinated on the orders of the North Korean leader, it would be seen as an affront to the country that has afforded him protection for many years.

“China’s inner circle of government is highly nervous about this,” said Wang Weimin, a professor at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs at Fudan University in Shanghai.

“Kim Jong Nam’s assassination makes China more aware of how unpredictable and cruel the current North Korean regime is, as well as Kim Jong Un’s willingness to abandon China and sell it for his own benefit at any second.”

Kim Jong Nam had lived for over a decade in Beijing and Macau, apparently with wives and children in both places, and had a reputation as something of a playboy who liked to visit casinos. Chinese experts said he had received 24-hour protection — and monitoring — from China’s security services, as well as financial assistance when he needed it.

Yet despite his status as the eldest son of Kim Jong Il, he had shown no obvious political ambitions. Fudan University’s Wang said Chinese authorities realized long ago he lacked leadership potential, and did not pin huge hopes on him. Nevertheless, he was a guest of their country, who would probably have provided valuable intelligence in the past.

The assassination has come at an uncomfortable time for China, just days after North Korea conducted a missile test and when the new Trump administration has been asking China to do more to rein in its troublesome neighbor and ally.

China responded to that missile test by asking the United States not to escalate the situation, but instead to start a dialogue with Pyongyang.

Then, on Monday, Kim Jong Nam was apparently poisoned in an attack by two women at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia. It was a reminder, according to Marcus Noland and Stephan Haggard at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, of the North Korean regime’s true nature: “a cruel and ultimately capricious dictatorship that cannot be trusted on anything.”

While China’s official Communist Party mouthpieces, the People’s Daily newspaper and Xinhua news agency, have confined themselves to bland news reports on the incident, the nationalist Global Times tabloid, given a freer rein, has been more forthright, reflecting views shared by some officials and ordinary citizens.

Speculation sharply points at Pyongyang’s hand in the murder, in-house commentator Shan Renping wrote Thursday: If that is confirmed, China would join the international community in condemning it.

“Regardless of how intense a country's political struggle might be, there is no doubt that it should never rely on assassination methods as means for its advancement,” he wrote. “Human civilization is now in the 21st century, and such a savage and outdated political device should be cast into the museums of history.”

China’s critics, however, accuse the country of reaching across borders to kidnap its own dissidents.

Relations between Beijing and Pyongyang have deteriorated significantly in recent years. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un have never met and are believed to share mutual disdain, experts say.

In a sign that China’s patience might be running out, it rejected a shipment of coal from North Korea on Monday, a day after the ballistic missile test, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported.

Fudan University’s Wang said China recently received intelligence indicating that some people in North Korean leadership circles have been suggesting sacrificing ties with China and trying to establish closer links with the United States, Japan and South Korea.

“The idea that China cannot be trusted and can only be used, that Japan has been the deadly enemy for hundreds of years but China has been the old enemy for thousands of years — that mentality still prevails in their internal party meetings and was inherited from Kim Jong Un’s grandfather,” he said.

In that context, the assassination of Kim Jong Nam could be a signal of the regime’s unhappiness with Beijing for supporting United Nations sanctions and of a desire to distance itself from China, he said.

Other experts say it is more likely that Kim Jong Nam was killed by the Southeast Asian underworld, or that — if Pyongyang was responsible — it had more to do with the regime’s internal dynamics and paranoia than a desire to send a signal to the world.

Nevertheless, as commentator Ding Gang wrote in the Global Times, the development has not made the task of reining in North Korea’s nuclear program any easier — and that’s not good news for China.

“North Korea’s nuclear facilities and missile bases are located near China’s border,” he wrote. “Once the situation in the Korean Peninsula spirals out of control, the facilities will be primary targets or the final fortress of North Korea's defense. Either way, the effects on China will be severe.”

The murder of Kim Jong Nam, he warned, could reinforce destabilizing calls for tougher action to force “regime change” in Pyongyang.

“People in the U.S., Japan and South Korea will more likely opt for hard-line approaches, which will trigger nuclear security problems,” he wrote. “We had better prepare for a nuclear emergency in North Korea rather than wasting our time discussing who is behind the assassination.”

Congcong Zhang and Jin Xin contributed to this report.

[GeneChing]

MarathonTmatt is right. This story is so SPY VS. SPY.

Vietnam's accused assassin: From keen singer to killer
23 Feb 2017 at 00:41
WRITER: REUTERS AND ASSOCIATED PRESS


Doan Thi Huong, posted glamour-type photos on her Facebook page called 'Ruby Ruby', and many of her Facebook friends were Koreans.

The Vietnamese woman suspected of helping to kill the North Korean leader's half-brother was a keen singer whose Facebook pages featured pouting portraits and pictures of parties.

Four days before Kim Jong Nam was killed at a Malaysian airport, she appears to have posted a picture of herself wearing a shirt emblazoned with the acronym "LOL", similar to the one on the fleeing suspect caught on CCTV cameras.

SUMMARY
The Vietnamese suspect in the death of the North Korean leader's estranged half brother appeared to be wearing an "LOL" shirt like the attacker's in photos on her Facebook page.


Enhanced video grab from Kuala Lumpur International Airport shows alleged assassin.

Doan Thi Huong, 28, had posted to Facebook under the name Ruby Ruby, according to her niece, 18-year-old Dinh Thi Quyen.
Her profile picture shows Huong wearing a red cut-out swimsuit at a pool. Other photos are selfies taken in Phnom Penh and in Kuala Lumpur, a few days before two women attacked Kim Jong Nam at the city's airport, and rubbed his face with suspected poison.

The account's first post was made Dec 14 and the last was Feb 11 from an area near the airport. "I want to sleep more but by your side," it said above a photo of Huong with closed eyes and short blonde hair.
Many of her 65 Facebook friends are men, including several Koreans.

Doan Thi Huong worked at an entertainment outlet, according to Malaysian police, who have arrested her over the murder of Kim Jong Nam.

On a rice farm in northern Vietnam, the family whose daughter's details match those from Malaysian police said it rarely knew where she was since she left home a decade ago aged 18.

The last post on a Facebook page in the name of "Ruby Ruby", which family members confirmed to be one of Huong's accounts, is dated Feb 11 from Kampong Besut, Malaysia.

"I want to sleep more but by your side," the post reads above a picture of her, eyes closed and wrapped up in bed.

Malaysian police have said Huong and an Indonesian woman wiped a liquid, containing an as yet unidentified toxic substance, on Kim Jong Nam's face at Kuala Lumpur's budget air terminal on Feb 13.

The estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un died soon afterwards.

Huong was described by police as an "entertainment outlet employee", but they did not give details of where she had been employed or what her immigration status was.

TALENT SHOW

Among the links on another Facebook account, which the family also said featured pictures of Huong, was one to the page of the Vietnam Idol talent show. This account was in the name "Bella Tron Tron Bella" - Chubby Bella. There were no posts after November.

A woman bearing a close resemblance to Huong sang on the show as contestant number 67816 on June 3, 2016.

Facial recognition tools give a match to the pictures released by Malaysian police of Huong in custody.


The Facebook page belonging to the accused assassin shows her in an 'LOL' shirt.

The contestant gave Nam Dinh as her home town - the same as Huong's according to passport details from the Malaysian police - but her name was given as Dinh Thi Khuyen.

She left the show in the first round.

A member of the Vietnam Idol casting team declined to comment on the appearance and its spokeswoman did not immediately return a request for comment.

"Can I sing you a song tonight?" she wrote in a Facebook post on March 24 last year. "Reply the fastest and put your phone number in the comment. I will call and sing for you."

Family members mostly work the rice paddies around their home in Nam Dinh, in the Red River Delta southeast of Hanoi.

Huong only visited occasionally, they said, and she was vague about where she had been. She is now 28.

Her father, who fought for the North in the Vietnam War, lost part of his leg in the fighting. Vietnamese authorities had been in touch since the arrest, he said.

"They only say they will support Huong as she is Vietnamese, but did not tell me if she is really a suspect," he told Reuters.

"Even though I am her father I cannot control things that happened when she is out there. I cannot know," said Doan Van Thanh, 63, who works as a security guard in the local market.

Family members said they only found out she was abroad from the media. They had thought she was working in Hanoi.

So far, Vietnamese officials have only confirmed to media that investigations continue and they are in touch with Malaysia.

KOREAN LINK

A South Korean police official said Huong visited the holiday destination of Jeju Island in November for four days and they were looking into what she may have been doing there, but declined to provide further details.

Of 65 friends on the "Ruby Ruby" Facebook page, 27 have Korean names. Fifty six of the friends are men.

One status update on the first Facebook account was posted in the Korean language on March 23 last year, saying "I love you, I miss you", although it did not use words that would be expected for someone familiar with the language.

Most photographs in the accounts are of Huong attending parties, in hotel rooms or portraits. In many she blew kisses to the camera.


Ms Huong of Vietnam (left) and Indonesian Siti Aisyah are accused of wiping poison on the face of Kim Jong Nam immediately before his death. (Photos via Royal Malaysian Police)

Cosmetics, clothing and fast food shops were among Huong's likes on Facebook. Her place of education was given as Harvard, although the family did not believe that was true.

On Jan 3, Huong posted a picture of a boarding pass from Hanoi to Kuala Lumpur. Family members said Huong was last at home in Nam Dinh from Jan 25-29.

Huong also appears to feature in another online video. Posted last April, it is on the channel of a Vietnamese YouTuber who gets women to kiss him in the street.

The woman in that video matches the one in the latest police photo from Malaysia.

In the video she is shown giggling before a kiss with the man on a park bench.

In the photo, she wears no makeup and stares uncertainly towards the camera.

[GeneChing]

Such a crazy story.

WHO KILLED NORTH KOREA'S LEADER KIM JONG UN'S HALF-BROTHER? WOMEN FACING DEATH SENTENCE PLEAD NOT GUILTY
BY SOFIA LOTTO PERSIO ON 10/2/17 AT 6:29 AM

Eight months after Kim Jong Nam dropped dead at Kuala Lumpur international airport, two women arrested and charged with his murder pleaded not guilty on the first day of the much-anticipated trial in Malaysia on Monday.

The women wore bulletproof vests in court and nodded as interpreters read out the charges. The interpreters said both women pleaded not guilty, Reuters reported.

The estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was killed with a banned nerve agent on February 13. Footage from the airport security cameras showed the two women, 25-year-old Indonesian citizen Siti Aisyah and 28-year-old Doan Thi Huong of Vietnam, smearing his face with VX, which the U.N. describes as a weapon of mass destruction.

According to the prosecution, the assassination was practiced several times in Kuala Lumpur's shopping malls with the aid of four other North Korean citizens, who are treated as suspects in the case and were caught on video footage observing the murder from a distance.

"The prank practice carried out by the first and second accused with the supervision of the four who are still at large was preparation to see through their common intention to kill the victim," stated the prosecution's charge sheet.

The four suspects' names have not been released although police said an Interpol red notice, an international alert just short of an arrest warrant, was issued because they are believed to have fled Malaysia.


Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong (L) and Indonesian Siti Aishah are seen in this combination picture from undated handouts released by the Royal Malaysia Police to Reuters on February 19, 2017. The two women pleaded not guilty as the trial began on October 2, 2017.
ROYAL MALAYSIA POLICE/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS/FILE PHOTO

Diplomatic relations between North Korea and Malaysia, once somewhat friendly, collapsed as a result of the murder. The two countries fell out after Malaysia expelled the North Korean ambassador—believing that embassy staff had been involved in the murder—leading Pyongyang to bar all Malaysians from leaving the country.

Malaysia secured its citizens’ release in return for Kim’s body and safe passage home for the North Korean citizens sought in relation to the murder. Last week, Malaysia imposed a North Korea travel ban, forcing the postponement of a football match that was scheduled to take place in Pyongyang this Thursday, after it was alread rescheduled twice in the wake of the assassination.

The women face the death penalty if convicted. They claim they did not know they were participating in an assassination and were told they were partaking in a prank for a reality TV show.

The court heard the testimony of airport worker Juliana Idris and Police Lance Corporal Mohd Zulkarnain Sanudin, who saw Kim before he died in the airport clinic. Kim said he had been attacked by a woman from behind. His eyes were red and the police officer said he could still see some liquid on Kim’s face.

Zulkarnain also said he mistakenly recorded Kim’s nationality as South Korean, as he could not understand the acronym “DPR Korea” written on his passport—which stands for North Korea’s official name, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“I did not know what DPR meant. I was only sure that Korea was South Korea," he told the court.

The trial is expected to last until November 30.