Kim Jong-nam, the brother of North Korean despot Kim Jong-un, was assassinated Monday, at the Kuala Lumpur airport in Malaysia. Now, police say that one of the suspected killers in the plot thought she was participating in a T.V. prank.
Siti Aisyah, 25, was paid to be involved in capers in which she sprayed men in the face with water, according to Malaysian authorities. Police said she performed this stunt several times with another woman, and was given a small amount of money for doing so. In the case of Kim, there was some kind of toxic substance in the spray, and the exiled North Korean ended up dead, on his way to the hospital for a dizzy feeling. Siti thought this would just be another goof, the Guardian reports.
Tito Karnavian, the National Police Chief of Indonesia, told reporters in Kuala Lumpur: “Such an action was done three or four times and they were given a few dollars for it, and with the last target, Kim Jong-nam, allegedly there were dangerous materials in the sprayer. She was not aware that it was an assassination attempt by alleged foreign agents.”
Siti moved to Malaysia to find work, according to reports. She was taken into custody Thursday, along with a man who was suspected to be her boyfriend. Siti and another woman were seen on CCTV approaching Kim on the shopping concourse of the airport. One distracts Kim while the other administers a chokehold and then sprays the substance in his face. The other suspect in the attack, whose identity has yet to be confirmed, was seen wearing a white shirt emblazoned with “LOL” on the front. She has also been apprehended.
