VX nerve agent used to kill Kim Jong Nam, police say
By Correspondent
The chemical substance used to kill Kim Jong Nam was a VX nerve agent, an internationally-banned chemical weapon that can kill within minutes, according to a preliminary report by the Chemistry Department of Malaysia.Malaysian police said in a statement Friday that tests on Kim’s eyes and face revealed the presence of the substance.Nerve agents are the most toxic and fast-acting substance known in chemical warfare — and VX is the most potent of all of them, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Kim, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, died on February 13 before he was scheduled to board a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Macau. Malaysian police claim two women wiped his face with some sort of liquid at the instruction of four North Koreans. He started to feel dizzy minutes later and died shortly after on his way to the hospital.North Korea rejects that version of events, saying that the women would be dead if they had put a lethal chemical on their hands. It vehemently denies any involvement in Kim’s death. There are binary versions of chemical weapons, including VX, which aren’t lethal until two compounds are mixed, according to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).Binary systems are usually employed for the safe storage of chemical weapons. VX inhibits the operation of an enzyme that helps the body’s nervous system function, causing paralysis and suffocation.“VX is probably the state-of-the-art nerve agent,” CNN military analyst Rick Francona said. “It is probably the most lethal of all the nerve agents ever designed.” Symptoms can appear after a few seconds, and even small doses — as little as 10 mg on the skin — can affect people. Larger exposure can lead to convulsions, paralysis and deadly respiratory failure.VX is most dangerous when inhaled, rather than absorbed through the skin, according to Nial Wheate, a chemical weapons health expert at the University of Sydney.“It’s not (meant as) a skin agent. It’s a thing that you aerosol through the air,” he said.The nerve agent is listed in the top tier of deadly substances in the Chemical Weapons Convention, which North Korea has not signed.Despite its lethality, it’s not particularly difficult to make, Francona and other experts say.Pyongyang has had the capability to produce and use nerve agents for some time. A 2009 report from the International Crisis group estimated that the country possessed 2,500 to 5,000 tons of chemical weapons at the time, which could be delivered using artillery, rocket launchers and ballistic missiles, among other weapons.But the blast from a delivery system like missile would likely destroy much of the VX, said Wheate. It’s more meant for aerosol use in close quarters. “There’s no one weaponizing this stuff, this is old school,” he said.  Discover more from NewsBreakers
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