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Doan Thi Huong

A Vietnamese woman was released after being imprisoned for the assassination of Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in early 2017.

The Asahi Shimbun, CNN, and other foreign media outlets reported on May 3 that Vietnamese national Doan Thi Huong, 30, was released that morning from a detention center near Kuala Lumpur, where she was being imprisoned for Kim Jong-nam’s murder. Doan’s attorney said she would be returning home via Hanoi to reunite with her family.

Doan was imprisoned after a first court ruling finding her guilty of murder for conspiring with four males, apparently North Korean agents, in February 2017 to fatally apply the highly toxic nerve agent VX to Kim’s face at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Malaysian police initially charged Doan with homicide, which carries the possibility of the death penalty. But with Doan consistently claiming she believed she was appearing on a hidden-camera prank show for South Korean television and the Vietnamese government requesting leniency, the police changed their indictment on Apr. 1 to accuse her of “causing hurt with a dangerous weapon,” which permitted a lesser degree of punishment. The Malaysian court immediately imposed a first-trial sentence of three years and four months in prison, which Doan agreed to.

Kim Jong-nam assassination case remains unresolved issue

Doan’s release on May 3 came after the Malaysia government went a step further and substantially reduced her sentence, citing her model behavior during her imprisonment. The Malaysian government also freed another defendant in the case, 27-year-old Indonesian national Siti Aisyah, in March.

Both Doan and Aisyah have consistently maintained their innocence, claiming that they were “fooled” by North Korean agents and were “unaware” the victim was Kim Jong-nam.

Doan’s release means that judicial rulings have ended for now in the Kim Jong-nam assassination case, which remains shrouded in questions. An investigation into the possibility of organized involvement by the North Korean regime remains an unresolved issue.

By Gil Yun-hyung, staff reporter

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