Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, was assassinated at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia on February 13, 2017. Two women approached him and smeared a nerve agent called VX on his face, which caused his death within 20 minutes. The two women were later identified as Vietnamese national Doan Thi Huong and Indonesian national Siti Aisyah, who were both arrested and charged with murder. They claimed they were tricked into believing they were participating in a prank show and did not know they were handling a deadly poison. However, in 2019, the charges against Doan Thi Huong were dropped and she was released, while Siti Aisyah was acquitted in 2019 after the prosecution withdrew the charges against her. North Korea has been widely suspected of being behind the assassination, although it has denied any involvement.

The exact purpose behind the assassination of Kim Jong Nam is not entirely clear, and there are different theories about why he was targeted. Some experts believe that Kim Jong Nam was seen as a potential threat to Kim Jong Un’s leadership, and that his assassination was a preemptive measure to eliminate any potential challengers to the North Korean regime. Others suggest that the assassination may have been motivated by a desire to send a message to other potential defectors or critics of the regime, or to undermine the reputation of Kim Jong Un’s family. Still, others have speculated that the assassination may have been a way for North Korea to test its ability to use chemical weapons on foreign soil, as the use of VX nerve agent was a highly unusual method of assassination. The true motive behind the assassination of Kim Jong Nam may never be known for certain.