In this May 4, 2001, file photo, a man believed to be Kim Jong Nam, the eldest son of then North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, looks at a battery of photographers as he exits a police van to board a plane to Beijing at Narita international airport in Narita, northeast of Tokyo. Police in Malaysia say the half brother of North Korea鈥檚 leader who was killed in a Kuala Lumpur airport more than a week ago had a nerve agent on his eye and his face. A statement Friday, Feb. 24, 2017 from the inspector general of police said that a preliminary analysis from the Chemistry Department of Malaysia identified the agent at 鈥淰X NERVE AGENT.鈥� AP FILE PHOTO
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia 鈥� The banned chemical weapon VX nerve agent was used in the murder of Kim Jong Nam, the North Korean ruler鈥檚 outcast half-brother who was poisoned last week at the airport in Kuala Lumpur, police said Friday.
The substance was detected on Kim鈥檚 eyes and face, Malaysia鈥檚 inspector general of police said in a written statement, citing a preliminary analysis from the country鈥檚 Chemistry Department.
READ: Police: Suspects in North Korean death coated hands with poison
The death of Kim Jong Nam, whose daylight assassination in a crowded airport terminal seems straight out of a spy novel, has unleashed a diplomatic crisis that escalates by the day. The case has swept North Korea into the center of one of the world鈥檚 biggest news stories.
According to investigators, two women 鈥� one of them Indonesian, the other Vietnamese 鈥� coated their hands with chemicals and wiped them on Kim鈥檚 face on Feb. 13 as he waited for a flight home to Macau, where he lived with his family.
He sought help from airport staff but he fell into convulsions and died on the way to the hospital within two hours of the attack, police said.
The case has perplexed toxicologists, who question how the two women could have walked away unscathed after handling a powerful poison, even if 鈥� as Malaysian police say 鈥� the women were instructed to wash their hands right after the attack.
North Korea has denounced Malaysia鈥檚 investigation as full of 鈥渉oles and contradictions鈥� as international speculation grows that Pyongyang dispatched a hit squad to kill Kim Jong Nam, who has been estranged from the ruling elite in his country for many years.
Malaysia has three people in custody, including the two suspected attackers. Authorities are also seeking several other people, including the second secretary of North Korea鈥檚 embassy in Kuala Lumpur and an employee of North Korea鈥檚 state-owned airline, Air Koryo.