A Malaysian court has ruled that the evidence against two women accused of murdering the half-brother of North Korea’s leader is strong enough for the case to go to trial.
Kim Jong-nam died at Kuala Lumpur’s airport last year after the toxic VX nerve agent was rubbed on his face.
Siti Aisyah and Doan Thi Huong pleaded not guilty – they say they thought they were taking part in a TV prank show.
They could face the death penalty if convicted of murder.
Defence lawyers had earlier been confident that the case against their clients would be dropped, saying it was clear they had no motive to kill Mr Kim.
But a judge on Thursday ruled that the actions of the two women – which were captured on security camera footage – were enough to infer that they had intended to kill him.
Mr Kim, the estranged half-brother of Kim Jong-un, had been waiting to board a flight to Macau on 13 February last year when two women approached him in the departure area.
CCTV footage shows one woman placing her hands over his face before she and the other woman leave the scene.
Mr Kim sought medical help, saying a chemical had been sprayed on him. He died on the way to hospital from what was later found to have been exposure to the banned toxic nerve agent VX.
