On 13 February 2017 , Kim Jong-nam , half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un , died after an assault in Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia . According to the authorities he was murdered by poisoning with VX which was found on his face . The authorities further reported that one of the women suspected of applying the nerve agent experienced some physical symptoms of VX-poisoning . The director of a non-proliferation research program of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey stated that VX fumes would have killed the suspected attackers even if they had been wearing gloves , suggesting that the VX was applied as two non-lethal components that would mix to form VX only on the victim 's face
murdered by poisoning
Assassination of Kim Jong-nam
VX (nerve agent)