SHAH ALAM, Malaysia—Two women accused of killing the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will need to enter a defense in their murder trial, a judge ordered Thursday.
High Court Judge Azmi Ariffin said the prosecution had made a compelling case that the two women, Doan Thi Huong of Vietnam and Siti Aisyah of Indonesia, had intended to kill Kim Jong Nam, who died in Kuala Lumpur’s international airport in February 2017 after they allegedly smeared VX, a banned nerve agent, on his face.
“I’m of the firm view that the accused were the perpetrators leading to the death’’ of Mr. Kim, Mr. Azmi said in delivering his findings over more than two hours. The women, wearing headscarfs, quietly looked on.
Ms. Huong and Ms. Aisyah have pleaded not guilty to murder, which in Malaysia carries a mandatory sentence of death by hanging.
The judge’s decision will extend a trial that has already lasted 10 months and will provide a relief for prosecutors, who have struggled to establish a clear motive for the women’s role in the killing. Ms. Huong, 30, and Ms. Aisyah, 26, have said they were duped by a group of four North Koreans who orchestrated the killing and fled hours later, abandoning them to suffer the consequences.
Hisyam The Poh Teik, a lawyer for Ms. Huong, said that his client was disappointed with the decision but that the team plans to mount a defense that will include the calling of witnesses from overseas. Gooi Soon Seng, a lawyer for Ms. Aisyah, said the evidence against his client was “flimsy” as it was based primarily on airport security camera footage
The four North Koreans, who South Korea has said are intelligence operatives working for Pyongyang, left Malaysia immediately after Mr. Kim’s death and were later placed on an Interpol wanted list at Kuala Lumpur’s request. They are believed to be back in North Korea.
Throughout the trial, which began in October, prosecutors argued that Mr. Kim’s death was a well-planned murder, where both women appeared to have been trained to use VX.
Prosecutors played security camera footage showing the two women meeting the group of North Koreans at Malaysia’s busiest airport, then assaulting Mr. Kim near an airline kiosk—with at least one of them touching her hands to his face. Mr. Kim died shortly afterward. A postmortem and chemical investigation found traces of VX on his clothing and the hands of the two women.
In emotional testimony, the two women described being set up by the North Koreans, saying they led them to believe that they were carrying out a prank for a television show. The women said they didn’t know they were administering a lethal substance.
Their defense attorneys have described the incident as “a political assassination undertaken by North Korea,” and painted their clients as unwitting dupes, noting that neither had fled following the assault. Ms. Aisyah went shopping and returned to her residence in Kuala Lumpur. Two days later, Ms. Huong returned to the airport in the same T-shirt she had worn during the incident.
Mr. Azmi said that while he “can’t rule out this could be political assassination” there was insufficient evidence to prove it.
The judge said the contrast of the women’s conduct seen before and after the attack on Mr. Kim showed they knew what they were doing.
He rejected the argument that the assault could have been done for a prank TV program, citing the absence of such typical show elements as the introduction of performers before the act and the revealing of a hidden camera.
He said Ms. Huong and Ms. Aisyah were seen in airport security footage appearing calm before the incident and then seemed uneasy with their hands afterward. The Vietnamese woman was seen rushing to the restroom, holding her hands away from herself, and a minute later exited seeming more relaxed.
The defense phase of the trial is scheduled to begin in early November and last until the end of February 2019.
The killing of Mr. Kim became a symbol of North Korea’s routine disregard for international law. It added fuel to a U.S. drive to isolate the regime that eventually led to a summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Trump this year in Singapore. The global attention on the case has put pressure on Malaysian authorities to secure a conviction.
Kim Jong Nam’s death exposed what had then been a close relationship between North Korea and Malaysia, drawing attention to gaps in enforcement of United Nations sanctions.
Malaysia suffered further embarrassment when Pyongyang held its diplomats hostage until Kuala Lumpur returned Mr. Kim’s body and allowed two North Koreans who were wanted for questioning to leave. Malaysia downgraded ties with North Korea, though the new government under Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has said it will reopen the embassy there.
Write to Yantoultra Ngui at yantoultra.ngui@wsj.com
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