North Korean Biotech Institute Allegedly Involved in the Killing of Leader Kim Jong-Un's Half Brother
February 22, 2017
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
SEOUL – Did a North Korean biotechnology institute associated with that country’s military play a role in the assassination of the half-brother of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un?
That’s what an unnamed source is telling the Korea Herald of South Korea. The Korea Herald said a South Korean organization that works with families who were abducted by the North Korean government received a tip that a North Korean military unit dubbed 810, which is “also known as a biotechnology institute in charge of developing agricultural chemicals, was behind the killing of Kim Jong-nam.” Choi Sung-young, who represents the families with abducted members, said the unnamed tipster said the military group has carried out a “mock test” on 20 other political offenders leading up to the killing of Kim Jong-nam.
The Korea Herald reported that the claims made by Choi Sung-young have not been independently verified. However, if the military group was responsible, it lends weight to South Korean intelligence services that suggested the North Korean government may have been behind the aerosol attack. Additionally, police in Malaysia said the women who administered the aerosol also coated their hands in poison with instructions to wipe them on the face and hands of Kim Jong-nam. North Korea has decried the police’s account, the New York Daily News reported this morning.
Kim Jong-un died Feb, 13 after being sprayed with chemicals at the Kuala Lumpur international airport. Four people of different nationalities, including Indonesian and Vietnamese, have been arrested and seven North Koreans are wanted in connection with the attack, the Guardian reported. A North Korean diplomat has also been named as a suspect in the assassination, USA Today reported, citing authorities in Malaysia. Police Inspector-General Khalid Abu Bakar identified North Korea’s Hyon Kwang Song, a second secretary at the North Korean embassy in Malaysia, as a suspect in the murder.
South Korea’s Hong Yong-pyo, a unification minister, said that North Korea has a history of political assassination and the fact that the Malaysian government is seeking North Koreans for questioning lends support to the notion that government was behind the attack, the New York Times reported earlier this week.
North Korea’s Army Unit 810 has been in the news previously regarding the government’s call to increase food production to support the North Korean military. The government tasked the unit with setting up pig farms for pork production and soybean fields as a supplemental food source for the military.