Wrap-up: Of poisoned needles and female assassins

The killing of the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Malaysia, has intrigued investigators. Female assassins were allegedly used to kill

Kim Jong Nam, the older half brother of the North Korean leader, with poisoned needles. Such killings were common during the cold war era, according to reports.

Kim Jong Nam, who was 45 or 46, was estranged from his North Korean relatives and had been living abroad for years.

According to two senior Malaysian government officials, Kim Jong Nam told medical workers before he died that he had been attacked with a chemical spray.

Kim Jong Nam and Kim Jong Un are both sons of former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, who died in late 2011, but they had different mothers, reports Reuters.

Kim Jong Nam, the elder of the two, did not attend his father’s funeral. His mother was an actress named Song Hye Rim, and Kim Jong Nam said his father kept his parents’ relationship a secret.

Unconfirmed reports say that Kim Jong Un always feared Kim Jong Nam and even attempted to eliminate him in 2012.

The last time poison was used in high-profile killing of of former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko. Litvinenko was poisoned in a plush London hotel in what has been described as Russian “state-sponsored nuclear terrorism”.

Kremlin-critic Litvinenko, who had been granted British citizenship, died after drinking tea poisoned with a rare radioactive isotope in November 2006 and from his deathbed he accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering his murder.

Russia has always rejected the claim.