The United States formally concluded Tuesday that North Korea murdered Kim Jong Un's half-brother with the banned VX nerve agent, blasting Pyongyang for deploying a chemical weapon in a packed international airport.

Kim Jong Nam died in February last year, shortly after two women sprayed his face with a liquid as he walked through Kuala Lumpur airport.

The brazen daylight assassination unleashed diplomatic shockwaves and widespread condemnation of North Korea.

The two women, an Indonesian and a Vietnamese national, are currently on trial in Malaysia where they are accused of using a nerve agent to murder Kim Jong Nam, who lived in exile in China and was seen as a potential rival to his younger half-brother.

The two women say they were recruited to take part in what they thought were prank TV shows but were instead tricked into becoming inadvertent assassins, in an elaborate plot by a group of North Korean agents who then fled country.

On Tuesday, Washington announced it had formally concluded that VX — an extremely powerful nerve agent — was used to conduct the slaying and that North Korea was to blame.

"The Government of North Korea used the chemical warfare agent VX to assassinate Kim Jong Nam, in the Kuala Lumpur airport," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.

"This public display of contempt for universal norms against chemical weapons use further demonstrates the reckless nature of North Korea and underscores that we cannot afford to tolerate a North Korean WMD program of any kind," she added.

The statement gave no details or evidence on how the U.S. had come to their conclusion.

The finding triggered another layer of U.S. economic sanctions against Pyongyang, just as South Korea reported that the regime is ready for talks to end a nuclear standoff.

Under U.S. law, when a country or leader violates its ban on chemical and biological weapons, an import ban is imposed on its products, but North Korea is already under severe U.S. and U.N. sanctions, and Tuesday's decision will have little impact.

Kim Jong Un's older half-brother had once been seen as their father Kim Jong Il's natural heir, and some reports had suggested that China might be grooming him to replace the younger man in the event of a crisis.

The ongoing trial in Malaysia heard testimony that Kim Jong Nam expressed fears for his life months before his death.

He spent much of his time in the Chinese gambling hub of Macau and it is not clear why he may have left the relative safety of China's protection to travel to Malaysia if he thought his life was at risk.

The State Department's conclusions on the use of VX nerve agent come as anti-terror police in Britain investigate a potential poisoning of a former Russian spy in the sleepy town of Salisbury.

Sergei Skripal, a former military intelligence colonel who was convicted in Russia of spying for Britain and later released in a spy swap, was found unconscious on a bench in the English town alongside his daughter. Both are in critical condition.

The case immediately drew comparisons to Alexander Litvinenko, an ex-spy who died of radioactive polonium poisoning in London in 2006. A British inquiry ruled in 2016 that Putin "probably approved" the killing.</s>The State Department announced Tuesday North Korea used chemical weapons to kill Kim Jong Un’s half-brother.

The regime used the chemical agent VX to assassinate Kim Jong Nam at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia last year, the department said in a statement.

“The United States strongly condemns the use of chemical weapons to conduct an assassination,” the statement read. The department concluded its findings Friday.

North Korea’s use of chemical agents prompted the U.S. to slap new sanctions against Kim's regime under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991. Those sanctions went into effect Monday.

Three people arrested in murder of Kim Jong Un's half-brother

Two women face murder charges in the killing of Kim Jong Nam, who had traces of VX on his face, Malaysian officials said.

President Trump was confident North Korea would drop its nuclear weapons program.

“Possible progress being made in talks with North Korea. For the first time in many years, a serious effort is being made by all parties concerned,” Trump tweeted Tuesday. “The World is watching and waiting! May be false hope, but the U.S. is ready to go hard in either direction!”</s>North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un is seen during the inspection of a potato flour factory in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang. (Reuters)

North Korea used a chemical warfare agent to assassinate the half-brother of its leader Kim Jong Un in Malaysia last year, the US has concluded and imposed new sanctions against the reclusive nation to stop its unlawful activities.

The US' claim came just hours after North Korea signalled it was willing to give up its nuclear weapons.

Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, died after two women approached him and smeared a deadly nerve agent on his face in Malaysia on February 13 last year.

The US determined on February 22 under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 (CBW Act) that the Government of North Korea used the chemical warfare agent VX to assassinate Kim Jong Nam, in the Kuala Lumpur airport, State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said.

VX is an extremely toxic synthetic chemical compound. VX fatalities occur with exposure to tens of milligram quantities via inhalation or absorption through skin. On such exposure, it severely disrupts the body's signalling between the nervous and muscular systems, leading to a prolonged neuromuscular blockade, flaccid paralysis of all the muscles in the body including the diaphragm, and death by asphyxiation.

The US imposed new sanctions on North Korea as part of its finding, the State Department said.

These sanctions are in addition to existing US comprehensive sanctions against targeting unlawful North Korean activities.

The new sanctions took effect upon the publication of US' finding about the murder of Kim Jong Nam in the Federal Register on Monday, Nauert said.

Under the US law, when a country or leader violates its ban on chemical and biological weapons, an import ban is imposed on its products. North Korea is already under severe US and UN sanctions and so yesterday's decision will have little impact on the country.

"The US strongly condemns the use of chemical weapons to conduct an assassination. This public display of contempt for universal norms against chemical weapons use further demonstrates the reckless nature of North Korea and underscores that we cannot afford to tolerate a North Korean WMD program of any kind," Nauert said.

The new findings came as US President Donald Trump said hat he believed that North Korea's offer to hold denuclearisation talks was "sincere."

North Korea has offered to freeze its nuclear and missile programmes if the US begins direct talks on an agreement that would eventually see a nuclear free Korean peninsula.

But relations between the US and North Korea remain fragile. The North Korean regime has denied it was involved in Kim Jong-nam’s death and the new findings could disrupt diplomatic efforts.</s>The United States has determined Pyongyang used the chemical warfare agent VX to assassinate the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Malaysia in 2017 and has imposed sanctions in response, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday.

The prohibitions appeared largely symbolic, such as sales to North Korea under the Arms Export Control Act and barring the export of national security-sensitive goods and technology to North Korea, which has no relations with the United States.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement the U.S. government made the formal determination about the use of VX on Feb. 22 under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991.

The additional sanctions on Pyongyang went into effect on March 5 after the finding was formally published in the Federal Register, the official journal of the U.S. government, Nauert said.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson determined North Korea had "used chemical weapons in violation of international law or lethal chemical weapons against its own nationals," the department said in the Federal Register.

Kim's estranged half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, was killed at the airport in Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 13, 2017. Two women, Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, are on trial on charges of murdering Kim by smearing his face with VX.</s>The United States has determined Pyongyang used the chemical warfare agent VX to assassinate the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Malaysia in 2017 and has imposed sanctions in response, the US State Department said on Tuesday.

The prohibitions appeared largely symbolic, such as sales to North Korea under the Arms Export Control Act and barring the export of national security-sensitive goods and technology to North Korea, which has no relations with the United States.

State department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement the US government made the formal determination about the use of VX on Feb. 22 under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991.

The additional sanctions on Pyongyang went into effect on March 5 after the finding was formally published in the Federal Register, the official journal of the US government, Nauert said.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson determined North Korea had “used chemical weapons in violation of international law or lethal chemical weapons against its own nationals,” the department said in the Federal Register.

Kim’s estranged half-brother, Kim Jong Nam, was killed at the airport in Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 13, 2017. Two women, Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, are on trial on charges of murdering Kim by smearing his face with VX.</s>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has determined Pyongyang used the chemical warfare agent VX to assassinate the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Malaysia in 2017 and has imposed sanctions in response, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday.

The prohibitions appeared largely symbolic, such as sales to North Korea under the Arms Export Control Act and barring the export of national security-sensitive goods and technology to North Korea, which has no relations with the United States.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement the U.S. government made the formal determination about the use of VX on Feb. 22 under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991.

The additional sanctions on Pyongyang went into effect on March 5 after the finding was formally published in the Federal Register, the official journal of the U.S. government, Nauert said.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson determined North Korea had “used chemical weapons in violation of international law or lethal chemical weapons against its own nationals,” the department said in the Federal Register.

Kim’s estranged half-brother, Kim Jong Nam, was killed at the airport in Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 13, 2017. Two women, Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, are on trial on charges of murdering Kim by smearing his face with VX.</s>WASHINGTON – The United States formally concluded Tuesday that North Korea murdered Kim Jong Un’s half-brother with the banned VX nerve agent, blasting Pyongyang for deploying a chemical weapon in a packed international airport.

Kim Jong Nam died in February last year, shortly after two women sprayed his face with a liquid as he walked through Kuala Lumpur airport.

The brazen daylight assassination unleashed diplomatic shockwaves and widespread condemnation of North Korea.

The two women, an Indonesian and a Vietnamese national, are currently on trial in Malaysia where they are accused of using a nerve agent to murder Kim Jong Nam, who lived in exile in China and was seen as a potential rival to his younger half-brother.

The two women say they were recruited to take part in what they thought were prank TV shows but were instead tricked into becoming inadvertent assassins, in an elaborate plot by a group of North Korean agents who then fled country.

On Tuesday, Washington announced it had formally concluded that VX — an extremely powerful nerve agent — was used to conduct the slaying and that North Korea was to blame.

“The Government of North Korea used the chemical warfare agent VX to assassinate Kim Jong Nam, in the Kuala Lumpur airport,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.

“This public display of contempt for universal norms against chemical weapons use further demonstrates the reckless nature of North Korea and underscores that we cannot afford to tolerate a North Korean WMD program of any kind,” she added.

The statement gave no details or evidence on how the US had come to their conclusion.

The finding triggered another layer of US economic sanctions against Pyongyang, just as South Korea reported that the regime is ready for talks to end a nuclear standoff.

Under US law, when a country or leader violates its ban on chemical and biological weapons, an import ban is imposed on its products, but North Korea is already under severe US and UN sanctions, and Tuesday’s decision will have little impact.

Kim Jong Un’s older half-brother had once been seen as their father Kim Jong Il’s natural heir, and some reports had suggested that China might be grooming him to replace the younger man in the event of a crisis.

The ongoing trial in Malaysia heard testimony that Kim Jong Nam expressed fears for his life months before his death.

He spent much of his time in the Chinese gambling hub of Macau and it is not clear why he may have left the relative safety of China’s protection to travel to Malaysia if he thought his life was at risk.

The State Department’s conclusions on the use of VX nerve agent come as anti-terror police in Britain investigate a potential poisoning of a former Russian spy in the sleepy town of Salisbury.

Sergei Skripal, a former military intelligence colonel who was convicted in Russia of spying for Britain and later released in a spy swap, was found unconscious on a bench in the English town alongside his daughter. Both are in critical condition.

The case immediately drew comparisons to Alexander Litvinenko, an ex-spy who died of radioactive polonium poisoning in London in 2006. A British inquiry ruled in 2016 that Putin “probably approved” the killing.</s>Priscilla Moriuchi, a former US National Security Agency officer warned North Korea may have 11,000 bitcoins in storage that could help minimise the damage from crippling economic sanctions. If North Korea cashed out their bitcoin when the cryptocurrency peaked at $20,000 in December of last year Pyongyang could have made $220million. But if Kim Jong-un had waited until January to cash out, this value would have dropped to $120million. Ms Moriuchi, who now works for cyber threat intelligence firm Recorder Future, believes the rogue state either acquired the cryptocurrency through mining or hacking.

Ms Moriuchi told Radio Free Asia: “I would bet that these coins are being turned into something – currency or physical goods – that are supporting North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programme.” This is not the first time it has been claimed North Korea has either hacked cryptocurrencies or launched virus attacks. In December, the US confirmed North Korea was behind the WannaCry ransomware attack back in May last year. The cyber attack disrupted the NHS, as more than a third of trusts in England were disrupted by the ransomware according to National Audit Office (NAO).

NHS England said no patients data was stolen or compromised but at least 6,900 NHS appointments were cancelled. North Korea hackers were accused of of illicity gaining access to the Bank of Bangladesh in 2015, where they transferred about $81million into bank accounts in the Philippines. Recent reports have also suggested thestate-sponsored cyber army may have turned to cryptocurrencies instead of targeting traditional banking systems.

North Korea has denied all allegations of hacking, despite cyber security experts and defectors having claimed that students who show a flair for such matters are handpicked from top universities to join Bureau 121, the country’s cyberwarfare agency. In November, it was reported the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology was teaching a specialised cryptocurrency course. Loretta Napoleoni, a terrorist financing and money-laundering expert economist who recently released the book ‘North Korea, the Country We Love to Hate’, believes the country is already “ensconced” in cryptocurrency and are most likely using it for money-laundering.</s>Priscilla Moriuchi, a former US National Security Agency officer warned North Korea may have 11,000 bitcoins in storage that could help minimise the damage from crippling economic sanctions. If North Korea cashed out their bitcoin when the cryptocurrency peaked at $20,000 in December of last year Pyongyang could have made $220million. But if Kim Jong-un had waited until January to cash out, this value would have dropped to $120million. Ms Moriuchi, who now works for cyber threat intelligence firm Recorder Future, believes the rogue state either acquired the cryptocurrency through mining or hacking.

Ms Moriuchi told Radio Free Asia: “I would bet that these coins are being turned into something – currency or physical goods – that are supporting North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programme.” This is not the first time it has been claimed North Korea has either hacked cryptocurrencies or launched virus attacks. In December, the US confirmed North Korea was behind the WannaCry ransomware attack back in May last year. The cyber attack disrupted the NHS, as more than a third of trusts in England were disrupted by the ransomware according to National Audit Office (NAO).

NHS England said no patients data was stolen or compromised but at least 6,900 NHS appointments were cancelled. North Korea hackers were accused of of illicity gaining access to the Bank of Bangladesh in 2015, where they transferred about $81million into bank accounts in the Philippines. Recent reports have also suggested thestate-sponsored cyber army may have turned to cryptocurrencies instead of targeting traditional banking systems.

North Korea has denied all allegations of hacking, despite cyber security experts and defectors having claimed that students who show a flair for such matters are handpicked from top universities to join Bureau 121, the country’s cyberwarfare agency. In November, it was reported the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology was teaching a specialised cryptocurrency course. Loretta Napoleoni, a terrorist financing and money-laundering expert economist who recently released the book ‘North Korea, the Country We Love to Hate’, believes the country is already “ensconced” in cryptocurrency and are most likely using it for money-laundering.</s>WASHINGTON: The United States formally concluded Tuesday that North Korea murdered Kim Jong Un’s half-brother with the banned VX nerve agent, blasting Pyongyang for deploying a chemical weapon in a packed international airport. Kim Jong Nam died in February last year, shortly after two women sprayed his face with a liquid as he walked through Kuala Lumpur airport. The brazen daylight assassination unleashed diplomatic shockwaves and widespread condemnation of North Korea.

The two women, an Indonesian and a Vietnamese national, are currently on trial in Malaysia where they are accused of using a nerve agent to murder Kim Jong Nam, who lived in exile in China and was seen as a potential rival to his younger half-brother. The two women say they were recruited to take part in what they thought were prank TV shows but were instead tricked into becoming inadvertent assassins, in an elaborate plot by a group of North Korean agents who then fled the country.

On Tuesday, Washington announced it had formally concluded that VX – an extremely powerful nerve agent – was used to conduct the slaying and that North Korea was to blame.

“The Government of North Korea used the chemical warfare agent VX to assassinate Kim Jong Nam, in the Kuala Lumpur airport,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.

“This public display of contempt for universal norms against chemical weapons use further demonstrates the reckless nature of North Korea and underscores that we cannot afford to tolerate a North Korean WMD program of any kind,” she added.

The statement gave no details or evidence on how the US had come to their conclusion. The finding triggered another layer of US economic sanctions against Pyongyang, just as South Korea reported that the regime is ready for talks to end a nuclear standoff. Under US law, when a country or leader violates its ban on chemical and biological weapons, an import ban is imposed on its products, but North Korea is already under severe US and UN sanctions, and Tuesday’s decision will have little impact.

Kim Jong Un’s older half-brother had once been seen as their father Kim Jong Il’s natural heir, and some reports had suggested that China might be grooming him to replace the younger man in the event of a crisis. The ongoing trial in Malaysia heard testimony that Kim Jong Nam expressed fears for his life months before his death. He spent much of his time in the Chinese gambling hub of Macau and it is not clear why he may have left the relative safety of China’s protection to travel to Malaysia if he thought his life was at risk.
The United States accuses North Korea of using VX to kill Kim Jong-nam, and imposes apparently symbolic sanctions against North Korea.