Murder Trial To Proceed Against 2nd Woman In Killing Of Kim Jong Un's Half-Brother

The case against a Vietnamese woman accused of killing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's estranged half-brother will go forward, prosecutors in Malaysia said Thursday.

Two women were accused of smearing a toxic nerve agent on the face of Kim Jong Nam as he walked through a Kuala Lumpur airport terminal in 2017. The man was dead within 20 minutes, and the women — who said they thought they were taking part in a Japanese game show — were arrested and charged with murder.

Just as the defense phase of the trial was about to begin Monday, one of the women — an Indonesian named Siti Aisyah, 27 — was unexpectedly freed. The murder trial of the other woman — Doan Thi Huong, 30, of Vietnam — was put on hold. But now Malaysia's attorney general has ordered that her trial proceed. Prosecutors did not explain the decision.

"God knows that Siti and I did nothing wrong," Huong told reporters in court through an interpreter, according to the Guardian. "Please call my father, call my family, and ask for them to pray for me."