The world's 'most toxic nerve agent' suspected in Kim Jong-nam's death
If Kim Jong-nam was killed by the banned weapon of mass destruction VX, he might be the first person ever assassinated with a nerve agent, a chemical weapons expert says.
The North Korean dictator's brother died last week shortly after two women approached him in an airport in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and appeared to grab his face. Malaysian police said Thursday he died from exposure to VX, an extremely dangerous chemical developed in the 1950s and previously only used on the battlefield.
"This is a very dangerous compound. I'm not sure people really understand how dangerous and toxic it is," Bruce Goldberger, a University of Florida forensic toxicologist, told As It Happens guest host Helen Mann. "It is one of the, or the most toxic nerve agent."
It is so deadly, in fact, that it would only take about 10 milligrams — or "a few specks" — to kill someone, he said. And the effects are not pretty.
"Some of the early signs would include the pinpoint pupils, salivation and lacrimation, urination. There would be nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, gastrointestinal pain and then, while this was progressing, there would be some muscle twitching and that leads to convulsions or seizures and then death," Goldberger said.
This is a very dangerous compound. I'm not sure people really understand how dangerous and toxic it is.- Bruce Goldberger, forensic toxicologist
VX is banned under the UN Chemical Weapons Convention and the countries who have it are only supposed to keep small stockpiles for the purposes of study.
North Korea, which denies it has any supplies of chemical weapons, maintains it had nothing to do with the assassination of Kim Jong-un's estranged half-brother, who had been living under the protection of Beijing authorities.
"This is concerning on so many levels," Goldberger said. "We've really never seen an assassination carried out using a nerve agent. It has very, very wide political implications, as well, especially if this is directly tied to North Korea."
However, the professor cautions there are more questions than answers at this point: How did the assassins apply the substance? Why didn't get they sick themselves?
There is an effective antidote for nerve agents the assassins could have taken, he said. Military members carry it on the battlefield. But even that wouldn't explain why the first responders or airport bystanders didn't become ill.
And then there's the million-dollar question: How did the assassins get their hands on the stuff?
"Obviously, you can't buy VX over the Internet," Goldberger said. "It's not a compound or a chemical that you'd be able to manufacture in your bathtub."
For more on this story, listen to our full interview with Bruce Goldberger.