Its been almost a week now, since Kim Jong Nam was assassinated in a Hollywood spy movie fashion, at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. As can be expected in such cases, initial reports coming out of Malaysia were somewhat sketchy. All that was for certain was that Kim Jong Nam, or at least someone purported to be him, was killed somewhat mysteriously at the Kuala Lumpur Airport. Within few short hours, a 28 year old woman suspect, allegedly a Vietnamese national (she was carrying a Vietnamese passport), was arrested for questioning. This woman, identified as Doan Thi Huong on her Vietnamese passport, was seen near the scene of the crime and her image was captured on the grainy CCTV image. Shortly a second woman, an Indonesian national, 25 year old Siti Aishah, was arrested. A few hours later, her Malaysian boy friend was detained for questioning, but released. Now, some five days later, a 46 year old North Korean Ri Jong Chol has been arrested. Ri is supposedly in Malaysia with a worker's permit but is suspected of being part of the North Korean hit squad that used the two women to carry out the killing.
The two women have been claiming that they were unaware that they were carrying out an assassination. According to their story, they were hired by a TV crew that supposedly was shooting a realty prank show in which one would approach an unsuspecting man and ask him to close his eyes, and the other would spray him with water. They were paid a small amount and had already performed several such pranks at various locations. However, in the final prank, that of killing Kim Jong Nam, apparently some sort of poison was used instead of harmless water. Now the women claim they did not know that they were using any kind of a harmful liquid. Yet, the alleged Vietnamese woman who handled the liquid wore gloves on her hands. Why would anyone wear gloves in a hot, humid, tropical climate? It is hard to believe that she or her partner did not realize that there was something strange.
The women were acquainted and had recently both worked briefly in China as escorts. They had also traveled to South Korea and other locations, working as hostesses in bars or as escorts. It is not clear if they had been recruited earlier or upon their arrival in Malaysia. The North Korean who was most recently arrested is no doubt part of the assassination crew that North Korea had dispatched for this killing. He may have been, along with the other reported three TV "crew" members, "sleepers" who had established themselves in Malaysia working in various jobs. Malaysia is one of the few remaining countries in the world that has friendly relations with North Korea with official diplomatic ties. Usually, in countries where North Korea is able to establish official ties with embassies, like in Malaysia or Egypt, those countries are infiltrated with their intelligence personnel as "sleepers" or "diplomats," and they use those countries as bases for their intelligence operations for the region. Malaysia is known to harbor many North Koreans.
It is somewhat confusing that there are so many versions given for the way Kim Jong Nam was assassinated. The initial report from Malaysian police was that a handkerchief, no doubt containing poison, was used to cover the victim's face briefly, long enough for the poison to go to work. That story was supposedly based on Kim Jong Nam's own description of how he was assaulted, before he died. There were, of course, other versions circulated that he was stabbed with a needle that injected the poison, and the version about having the liquid sprayed in his face. Now, it seems that the two women that were responsible claim that they used a spray, which along with the gloves worn by one, were discarded after the act. What is surprising is that neither the gloves that were worn nor the spray bottle containing poison had been recovered. Additionally, although the autopsy had been completed several days ago, the result of the autopsy has not yet been released.
I hate to say this, but the whole thing smacks of inefficiency and mishandling by the Malaysian authorities. It is not surprising, one only has to look back a couple of years to March of 2014 and the disappearance of Malaysian flight MH370, and remember the bungling and mishandling of the situation by not only the airlines officials, but by the police and Malaysian government handling the investigation. Perhaps because of the MH370 incident and the black eye that the Malaysian officials received for mishandling, this time the authorities appear to be almost excessively reticent in releasing any kind of new information. Meanwhile, the North Korean Ambassador to Malaysia has announced that North Korea rejects any autopsy findings, claiming that it is all a plot against North Korea by its enemies. In doing so, North Korea is literally admitting that they are responsible for the assassination!
There are all sorts of theories being floated about as to why Kim Jong Nam was assassinated. He was certainly no threat to Kim Jong Un, his younger half brother. Kim Jong Nam did express dissatisfaction with the North Korean regime and predicted that it would fall unless reforms were made and strict rule eased. But no one really took him seriously. The Chinese provided protection and there was talk that he would be their choice to replace Kim Jong Un. Other rumors were that there is a faction in North Korea that would like to break from China, and as far fetched as it may seem, actually draw closer to Japan, South Korea, and the U.S.
Historically, for thousands of years China or various Chinese Dynasties have dominated the Korean peninsula and its kingdoms. Both the Yi and the earlier Koryo Dynasties were tributary states of China! It was only the much earlier great Koguryo Empire that China feared, that was not subject to a Chinese Dynasty. So there is very long history of Chinese subjugation and mistrust. In comparison, hostilities against Japan is fairly recent, and against South Korea and the U.S., very recent. In a culture where centuries are counted at about the same rate as we count years here in America, the mistrust of China is much deeper than most outsiders realize. Many older North Koreans still remember how close they came to being dominated by China during Korean War!
So, despite the fact that North Korea is almost totally dependent on China for economic support, it still does not quite trust China. You can bet that although there may be Sino-philes among the North Korean top brass, majority are still mistrustful. So, given an opportunity, a break from China would not be something that many North Koreans would resist. From that standpoint, there is a chance, although a very slim one, of establishing some sort of an opening for negotiations. So, in a very twisted sort of way, perhaps some of the North Korean leadership saw an opportunity to severe some of the ties with China by assassinating Kim Jong Nam, who was known to be pro Chinese and was protected by the Chinese. The Beijing leadership, on the otherhand, has remained surprisingly quiet about the situation. Many journalists in China, both foreign and domestic, speculate that the Chinese leadership feels insulted by what North Korea pulled. Whether that is true or not we really won't know, unless the Chinese admit to it, which is unlikely. At any rate, this whole saga of the assassination appears to have much more to it than just a mere act of a psychopath fearing for his position as head of North Korea. Hopefully, we will learn more in time, whether it was indeed just an assassination typical of Kim Jong Un, or if there was another motive behind it.
No comments:
Post a Comment