North Korean leader's brother died in 20 minutes: Autopsy
Malaysian autopsy says VX nerve agent spread rapidly to heart and lungs of older brother of North Korean leader
By P Prem Kumar
KUALA LUMPUR
The estranged older brother of North Korea’s leader died less than 20 minutes after being poisoned by a nerve agent, the official postmortem report concluded.
S. Subramaniam, Malaysia's health minister, said the autopsy concluded that Kim Jong-un’s brother Kim Jong-
"The amount of the VX was so high that it affected his heart and lungs. The absorption was very rapid, and that resulted in him being killed in 15 to 20 minutes” after exposure, he told reporters in the capital Kuala Lumpur today.
Subramaniam said the ministry is still
He added that if no next-of-kin is available, other methods will be used to confirm the identity, such as dental profiling and photo comparisons where identifications can be made via marks such as moles.
Subramaniam also said the postmortem, excluding the verification process, has been completed and would be handed over to the Malaysian police for further investigation.
Jong-
Separately, Deputy Health Minister Hilmi Yahaya told the media that the VX found in Jong-
He said the VX -- a chemical weapon that can paralyze the nervous system and kill by suffocation within a half-hour -- was difficult for immigration or customs officers to detect in small amounts.
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