THE death of Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, at Kuala Lumpur airport last week was the result of poisoning with a powerful chemical, Malaysian police said yesterday.

“Our preliminary finding of the chemical that caused the death of Kim Chol was VX nerve,” said Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar.

Mr Abu Bakar said two women suspects had smeared the deadly toxin on their bare hands and rubbed it on the victim’s face.

Police initially said that no-one else fell ill following the alleged attack, but the police chief said yesterday that one of them had later suffered vomiting. It has been suggested that they must have taken an antidote.

Asked whether people should avoid the airport for fear of contamination, he said: “No, no, no. But I don’t know. I am not the expert.”

Mr Abu Bakar’s deputy Tan Sri Noor Rashid Ibrahim said one of Mr Kim’s relatives was expected to arrive from the Chinese territory of Macau in China today to identify the corpse.