This is an archive article published on February 13, 2018
Year after Kim Jong Nam’s killing, suspected masterminds evade trial
The two young Southeast Asian women on trial could be sent to the gallows for a crime they almost certainly had a part in – possibly without knowing it. But just as certainly, the slaying of Kim Jong Nam one year ago Tuesday required a bigger cast of characters.
FILE - This May 4, 2001, file photo shows Kim Jong Nam, exiled half-brother of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, escorted by Japanese police officers at the airport in Narita, Japan. Kim Jong Nam, 46, was targeted Monday, Feb. 13, 2017, in a shopping concourse at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia, and later died on the way to the hospital, according to a Malaysian government official. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye, File) 
This May 4, 2001, file photo shows Kim Jong Nam, exiled half-brother of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un, escorted by Japanese police officers at the airport in Narita, Japan. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye/File)
Lost in the glare of North Korea’s missile launches, rhetorical battles with Washington and charm offensive at the Winter Olympics, a court is hearing evidence in the stunning assassination of Kim Jong Un’s estranged half brother. The two young Southeast Asian women on trial could be sent to the gallows for a crime they almost certainly had a part in – possibly without knowing it. But just as certainly, the slaying of Kim Jong Nam one year ago Tuesday required a bigger cast of characters. People who could plan such a crime, procure a deadly and exotic poison and ensure no one was harmed other than the target in a crowded airport terminal in Malaysia. And those suspected masterminds are all long gone.
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