Airport to be screened for toxic chemicals

Kim Jong Nam was murdered on February 13 at Kuala Lumpur's main airport with VX nerve agent

Malaysia will sweep one of the terminals at Kuala Lumpur international airport for toxic chemicals after Kim Jong Nam was murdered there with a nerve agent last week, as authorities said they would issue an arrest warrant if a North Korean diplomat wanted over the death did not come forward.

Kim Jong Nam was murdered on February 13 at the budget terminal of Kuala Lumpur’s main airport with VX nerve agent, a chemical classified by the United Nations as a weapon of mass destruction.

The police forensic team, fire department and the Atomic Energy Licensing Board will be conducting the sweep at the airport, Malaysian cops said in a statement on Saturday.

The sweep will be conducted from 1 am on February 26, the police said.

The airport terminal will not be closed, but the search areas would be cordoned off, a police official told Reuters.

VX is one of the deadliest chemical weapons created by man: just 10 milligrams of the nerve agent or a single drop is enough to kill in minutes, experts have said.

Kim Jong Nam was waiting at the departure hall when he was attacked by two women who splashed his face with the liquid. He died en route to hospital.

Malaysian police on Friday said one of the women had suffered from the effects of VX and had been vomiting.

The two women — one Indonesian and one Vietnamese — have been detained, along with a North Korean man. Seven other North Koreans have been named as suspects or are wanted for questioning.

Malaysian police are also sweeping other locations in Kuala Lumpur the suspects may have visited.

Selangor state police chief Abdul Samah Mat said earlier on Saturday authorities raided an apartment in an upscale Kuala Lumpur suburb earlier this week in connection with the killing, and were checking for any traces of chemicals in the apartment.

Samah also said 44-year-old Hyon Kwang Song, a second secretary at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, wanted for questioning in the murder has yet to come forward.