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11 Malaysians Barred From Leaving North Korea

posted by janrinok on Thursday March 09 2017, @02:43AM   Printer-friendly
from the stand-off dept.

takyon writes:

A handful of Malaysian citizens have been barred from leaving North Korea as relations between the two countries continue to deteriorate:

North Korea barred Malaysians from leaving the country on Tuesday, sparking tit-for-tat action by Malaysia, as police investigating the murder of Kim Jong Nam in Kuala Lumpur sought to question three men hiding in the North Korean embassy. Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak accused North Korea of "effectively holding our citizens hostage" and held an emergency meeting of his National Security Council. The United Nations called for calm between Malaysia and North Korea and urged them to settle their differences through "established diplomatic practice."

The moves underscored the dramatic deterioration in ties with one of North Korea's few friends outside China since the murder of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's estranged half-brother at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Feb. 13. Malaysia said the assassins used VX nerve agent, a chemical listed by the United Nations as a weapon of mass destruction.

[...] There are 11 Malaysians in North Korea, according to a Malaysian foreign ministry official, including three embassy staff, six family members, and two others.

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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday March 09 2017, @05:10AM (6 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday March 09 2017, @05:10AM (#476881) Journal
    A huge difference between the Russian and North Korean cases is that the North Koreans got caught. Putin enemies keeling over from polonium poisoning without a poisoner to question is far harder to pin on someone than the sloppy mess that North Korea left in Malaysia. And if the North Koreans had used a more normal/subtle poison, like arsenic, digitalis, or cyanide (all which have been used for spook stuff before), they'd probably have an easier time of it.

    But one big problem with VX and other very toxic compounds of that sort is that it has the potential to kill a lot more than just one person. Even used as it was, it could have harmed or killed emergency response just by touching the victim's face or the second poisoner's hands (which were also contaminated). Second, there's the question of just how much of the binary components were brought in. How much VX could have been made with what they had on hand? How many people could have died, if one of the people involved had managed to deliberately or accidentally aerosolize a mixture of what they had on hand, say in an airport? It's not just the murderous intent. It's also the profound irresponsibility and epic disregard for human life.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 09 2017, @06:17AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 09 2017, @06:17AM (#476887)

    But one big problem with VX and other very toxic compounds of that sort is that it has the potential to kill a lot more than just one person. Even used as it was, it could have harmed or killed emergency response just by touching the victim's face or the second poisoner's hands (which were also contaminated).

    Could have, would have, except only one death, they could have sprayed it in the air if they really want to grab headlines like "40 DEAD IN AIRPORT ATTACK" with Kim as one of the victims, but that didn't happen. Seems like whoever put the plan together didn't want too much attention, but not above causing some noise.

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday March 09 2017, @06:42AM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday March 09 2017, @06:42AM (#476895) Journal

      Could have, would have, except only one death, they could have sprayed it in the air if they really want to grab headlines like "40 DEAD IN AIRPORT ATTACK" with Kim as one of the victims, but that didn't happen.

      My point is that using VX to poison a potential rival of the glorious leader is a method with considerable potential to kill a lot more people than just the target in a way that the more mundane poisons (or even, for that matter the exotic polonium) can't do. And just dismissing it as "a lot of people didn't die this time" is silly.

  • (Score: 2) by AnonTechie on Thursday March 09 2017, @08:42AM (3 children)

    by AnonTechie (2275) on Thursday March 09 2017, @08:42AM (#476911) Journal

    I did not understand this:
    Since VX is so toxic, how come the people who handled the VX have not died, especially, the 2 women who have been charged with the murder.

    --
    Albert Einstein - "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."

    • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 09 2017, @08:59AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 09 2017, @08:59AM (#476916)

      https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/vx-nerve-agent-in-north-koreans-murder-how-does-it-work/ [scientificamerican.com]

      However, the Malaysian authorities have now revealed that the nerve agent VX, ethyl ({2-[bis(propan-2-yl)amino]ethyl}sulfanyl)(methyl)phosphinate, a compound outlawed internationally under the Chemical Weapons Convention, was involved in the crime. VX is a yellowish, odourless and tasteless liquid that disrupts the body’s nervous system to lethal effect. Ten milligrams is enough to kill a person through skin contact although it can also kill through inhalation. One of the women involved in the attack subsequently fell ill too.

      ‘This nerve agent can penetrate the skin and it acts very quickly,’ explains chemist John Emsley, author of The elements of murder: a history of poison. ‘The toxic dose via the skin is 0.1mg per kg of body weight, although it’s only 5μg when inhaled, so I suspect the woman sprayed him in the face as well and had the antidote to hand.’

      However, a more sophisticated attack may have taken place. ‘I would be looking closely at, why two women?’ says John Robertson, a poisons expert who runs The poison garden website. ‘Is it possible that each had a different substance on their cloth and the two reacted on his face to produce the fatal toxin? That would explain how they could have handled the cloths with impunity.’ Now that we know the agent was VX, Robertson points out that this poison can be employed as a binary weapon. VX can be made by mixing O-(2-diisopropylaminoethyl) O′-ethyl methylphosphonite (Agent QL) with elemental sulfur (Agent NE) or a liquid dimethyl polysulfide mixture (Agent NM).

      • (Score: 2) by AnonTechie on Thursday March 09 2017, @09:20AM

        by AnonTechie (2275) on Thursday March 09 2017, @09:20AM (#476917) Journal

        Thanks for the explanation and the link. It is, indeed, fortunate that there weren't more casualties given the deadly nature of VX.

        --
        Albert Einstein - "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday March 09 2017, @02:57PM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday March 09 2017, @02:57PM (#476959) Journal
      To elaborate on the other reply, it indeed sounds like the two women attackers used two precursor chemicals in succession to actually create the VX toxin. Further, my understanding is that the second woman actually did fall ill. She would have been the one exposed to any actual VX.