Malaysian court tells women charged in killing of North Korean to enter defense

A Malaysian judge on Thursday ruled that a trial against two women charged with the murder of the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would continue, and asked them to enter their defense.

Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Doan Thi Huong, a Vietnamese, face the death penalty on charges of murdering Kim Jong Nam by smearing his face with VX, a nerve agent banned by the United Nations, at a Kuala Lumpur airport on Feb. 13 last year.

Judge Azmi Ariffin accepted the prosecution's case that the women, in common intention with four individuals still at large, had caused the death of Kim Jong Nam.

"I must therefore call upon them to enter their defense on their respective charges," he added.

(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Writing by Praveen Menon; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

Source: Reuters