The investigation into the assassination of the half-brother of North Korea's leader has found that a banned chemical weapon was used to kill Kim Jong-nam. The autopsy results showed that the 45-year-old exile suffered "very serious paralysis" and died within 15-20 minutes of being poisoned.

Health minister Subramaniam Sathasivam said Malaysia's chemistry department's finding of VX toxin confirmed the hospital's autopsy result that led to death "in a very short period of time". VX can lead to death very quickly in high doses, he said according to AP.

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The dose of VX given to Kim was so high that it "would have affected his heart, it would have affected his lungs, it would have affected everything", Subramaniam said. He added that it required just 10mg of VX for it to be fatal "so I presume that the amount of dose that went in is more than that".

Police have completed a sweep of the airport terminal and have declared it safe. The operation began at around 2am local time on Sunday (26 February) with officials from nuclear, chemical, biological and radiological teams taking part.

The nerve agent VX is not radioactive but police said the atomic energy board and radiology teams were brought in as a precaution.

The two-hour scouring of the area was conducted by over a dozen officers in protective gear. The police official in charge of the investigations, Abdul Samah Mat, said the airport terminal was "free from any form of contamination of hazardous material" and declared it a "safe zone".

Samah Mat also said that Siti Aisyah, the Indonesian woman suspected of being involved in the killing of Jong-nam, vomited in the taxi on the way to the airport after the fatal attack took place, but was now in good health. More tests were needed to see if the two female suspects were given antidotes so they would not be affected by the nerve agent.

What is 'VX'?

The nerve agent VX is a tasteless and odourless amber liquid that disrupts with the body's nervous system.

It is more lethal to humans than the infamous poison sarin: just 10mg coming into contact with an adult's skin is enough to kill them.

The UN classes VX as a weapon of mass destruction, and limited countries to producing and storing 100g each year under the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention.

North Korea is one of four countries which did not sign the Convention.

Source: Wikipedia

The deputy health minister has claimed that this is the first time that the nerve agent has been found on Malaysian soil."This is the first time we come across VX. We never have it and only knew about it through reading," Deputy Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya said after opening a seminar on empowering Malay traditional medicine in Putrajaya in a New Straits Times report.

"This is the first time we come across VX. We never have it and only knew about it through reading," Deputy Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya said, after opening a seminar on empowering Malay traditional medicine in Putrajaya in a New Straits Times report.

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