Trial of Vietnamese woman accused of killing Kim Jong-nam to continue

By Reuters March 13, 2019 | 07:31 pm PT

Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, who was a suspect in the murder case of North Korean leader's half brother Kim Jong Nam, is escorted as she arrives at the Shah Alam High Court on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia March 14, 2019. Photo by Reuters/Lai Seng Sin

A Vietnamese woman will continue her trial for the murder of Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korea’s leader.

Malaysian prosecutors rejected a request from Vietnam to free her on Thursday.

The Vietnamese government had made the call after Doan Thi Huong’s co-accused, Indonesian woman Siti Aisyah, was released on Monday.

On Tuesday, Vietnam’s Justice Minister Le Thanh Long has called for freeing the Vietnamse suspect accused of killing Kim Jong-nam in Malaysia.

Also the same day, Vietnamese Deputy PM Pham Binh Minh, who is also the foreign minister, spoke with Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah on the phone on this issue and asked for Huong's release.

Huong and Siti Aisyah were charged with killing Kim by smearing his face with VX poison, a banned chemical weapon, at Kuala Lumpur airport in February 2017.