Kim Jong Nam had antidote in his bag for deadly poison that killed him

North Korea leader Kim Jong Un’s half-brother, killed in a bizarre airport assassination, had the antidote to a deadly nerve agent in his bag at the time he was poisoned, a Malaysia court heard.

A toxicologist said that Kim Jong Nam, who died shortly after an attack in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, earlier this year, was carrying 12 vials of atropine.

The stunning disclosure came as two women, Siti Aisyah from Indonesia and Doan Thi Huong, from Vietnam, face murder charges and possibly the death penalty for placing the poison on Kim’s face, what they say they believed was part of a harmless prank show.

Doctors have previously said that Kim, estranged from his family in North Korea, was killed by the nerve agent VX after finding traces of it on him and using evidence from his soiled underwear.

Atropine is an antidote for VX, declared a weapon of mass destruction by the United Nations, as well as some other toxic chemicals.

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Malaysia officials also suspected four North Koreans who fled the country of killing Kim, and defense lawyers for Aisyah, 25, and Huong, 29, have tried to emphasize the isolated kingdom’s alleged role in the death.

Kim was a critic of Kim Jong Un, who took over from his father Kim Jong Il in 2011 and has ramped up a nuclear weapons program that now includes missiles believed to have the U.S. mainland in range.

North Korea has denied any role in the killing and originally said he probably died of a heart attack, though the presence of the antidote suggests the victim was worried for his life.

He walked to an airport medical clinic for help, and it was unclear if any attempts to use the antidote were made before his death en route to a local hospital.

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Reports from earlier this year had suggested that Kim Jong Nam was killed because a North Korean general was plotting to use him as a potential successor to Kim Jong Un in a Chinese-supported coup attempt.

Some South Korean lawmakers have said there was a standing order from their northern neighbor to execute Kim Jong Nam.

With News Wire Services