Kim Jong-nam murder suspect ‘was paid $90 for baby oil prank’

An Indonesian woman under arrest for the murder of the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has claimed she was paid 400 Malaysian ringgits ($90) to carry out a prank.

Siti Aisyah, 25, told Indonesian embassy officials that she was given the money to smear Kim Jong-nam’s face with “baby oil” as part of a reality show joke. However, tests show that Kim was killed with the highly toxic nerve agent VX – classified as a weapon of mass destruction by the UN.

After a 30-minute meeting with Aisyah in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, Indonesian Deputy Ambassador Andreano Erwin said: “She only said in general that somebody asked her to do this activity. She only said in general she met with some people who looked Japanese or Korean.

“According to her, that person gave her 400 ringgits to do this activity…She only said she was given a kind of oil, like baby oil.”

He added that he could not see any physical signs that Aisyah had herself been affected by the chemical.

Vietnamese officials also met their arrested national, 28-year-old Doan Thi Houng, but made no further comment.

Kim died last week after the two women accosted him briefly in a check-in hall at Kuala Lumpur international airport.

Malaysia’s police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said on Friday that the presence of the nerve agent had been detected in swabs taken from Kim’s eyes and face. Kim had sought medical help at the airport, saying someone had splashed or sprayed him with liquid. He then had a seizure and died on the way to hospital.

A sweep of the airport for toxic chemicals by a forensic team, the fire department and the Atomic Energy Licensing Board will take place from 01:00 on Sunday.