North Korean Assassination

Throughout this news analysis I will be referring to articles written by Choe Sang-Hun and Richard C. Paddock in the New York Times as well as an article published by the BBC. On February 13, 2017 Kim Jong-nam, the brother of North Korea's Chairman of the Workers Party of Korea Kim Jong-un was assassinated in Malaysia. The assassination was allegedly carried out by Doan Thi Huong of Vietnam and Siti Aisyah of Indonesia via VX nerve gas. The deadly organophosphate was used to smother Kim’s face while he was checking into his flight at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The two women were charged in a Kuala Lumpur court for connections to the event. They told the judge they thought they were anticipating in a prank followed by scurrying

Malaysia being one of the countries that is friendly with North Korea has not yet accused them of the assassination, yet Kim was known to be critic of North Korea in exile. North Korea’s former ambassador of the UN requested the body and so far they have not confirmed that this is Kim Jong-nam’s body and have only acknowledged him as a North Korean citizen. Also was demanded the release of Ri Jong-chol. North Korea since has began its diplomatic efforts to mend the situation by sending delegates to Beijing and Kuala Lumpur as somewhat of an outreach to Kim Jong-un’s half brother. These delegations are led by North Korean Foreign Minister, Ri Gil-song. The Chinese Ministry claims the Ri’s visit is the acceptance of an invitation to meet with Beijing Foreign Minister, Wang

This deprivation of North Korea’s main source of economic leverage is detrimental to the economy of North Korea since it is their main point of salvation since they are cut off from most other countries. This ban on trade was supported by the United Nations and had the sole purpose of ending the North Korean nuclear weapons programs. China is now accused of “dancing to the tune of the United States”.(2) These sanctions were set in place after the North’s ballistic missile testing that the United Nations Security Council had attempted to stop. Some argue that China “lost patience with North Korea”(2) and the continued weapons testing. In past years China has been the receptor of nearly 90% of North Korea’s exports. With that being said it is hard to believe from a realist perspective that actions on behalf of North Korea as well as meetings between officials of both countries would not take place in the following weeks. It seems that the events following the sanctions were an excuse to meet with Chinese officials to release the sanctions since that trade is a major part of what keeps North Korea