The two women accused of killing the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will have to stand trial, after a judge pushed back on their defence that they were unknowing participants in his death at a preliminary hearing.

Doan Thi Huong, who is Vietnamese, and Siti Aisyah of Indonesia have been charged with killing Kim Jong Nam at Kuala Lumpur airport in February 2017 by smearing VX nerve agent on his face and eyes. Security camera footage from the airport at the time of the incident appeared to show the two women rubbing their hands on the face of Kim, who later sought help from airport staff. 

In his decision on Thursday, Judge Azmi Ariffin said he could not rule out the killing was a “political assassination”, in what was the starkest finger-pointing yet at North Korea, which was widely believed to have masterminded the killing.