'DEADLY STUNT'
Mum, 27, who assassinated Kim Jong-un’s playboy brother reveals how she was tricked to think nerve agent hit was harmless YouTube prank
THE mum who assassinated Kim Jong-un's playboy brother has revealed how she was tricked into thinking the nerve agent hit was a YouTube prank.
Siti Aisyah was this week tracked down to a remote village in Indonesia - where she insisted she was fooled into carrying out the audacious killing.
Kim Jong-Nam, 45, died in agony in February 2017 after being smeared with deadly VX nerve agent in broad daylight at Kuala Lumpur airport.
The North Korean tyrant is widely thought to have ordered the brazen broad daylight murder - fearing Jong-Nam would threaten his brutal rule.
But mum-of-one Siti Aisyah insisted she and her fellow "actress" Duong Thi Huong thought they were taking part in a simple online prank.
Despite their claims of innocence, the pair spent more than two years in prison facing the death penalty.
Their trauma was dramatically brought to an end when they were unexpectedly released and had their murder charges dropped earlier this year.
SPEAKING OUT
Now, after being found at her parents' remote modest one-storey home, Siti has told that she was lured into the hit.
She claims she was approached by mystery men posing as filmmakers - who coaxed her into the "prank" with the promise of fame and fortune.
Siti, 27, said she was told: "If today goes well you will be known all around the world. You can become a famous actress."
I didn't know who Kim Jong Un was before all of this. I didn't even know where North Korea was
Siti Aisyah
But repeating her claims of innocence, Siti told the newspaper: "I had no idea what I had done.
"I didn't know who Kim Jong Un was before all of this. I didn't even know where North Korea was.
"I feel bad about what happened to Kim Jong Nam and I wish I had never been involved.
"If I could turn back time, I would never have agreed to do any of it.
"When I got out of prison I looked up my name on the internet and finally realised what it had all been about.
"I thought, 'How can I have been caught up in such a big murder case involving these important people?'
"I am just a girl from a small village. I just believed I was playing pranks. That's all I ever thought."
PROMISED CASH AND FAME
Siti said she was forced to work in the sex industry after moving to the Malaysian capital following the breakdown of her marriage to her philandering husband.
It was her desperation to escape her dire circumstances and provide for her son back in Indonesia that led her into the arms of North Korean agents.
Posing as Japanese TV producers, the agents - who have been revealed as Ri Ji U and Hong Song Hac - gave her wads of cash in return for "pranks".
The stunts were all the same - and involved her wiping baby oil on her hands before smearing it on the faces of unsuspecting passersby.
Siti claims she didn't understand the appeal of the filmed stunts - which she believed were being shown on a Japanese TV show.
But what's now clear to her is that she was being trained to carry out the hit on Kim Jong-Nam.
He was tracked down and targeted after being suspected of passing on highly sensitive information on the North Korean regime to the CIA.
On 13 February 2017, the day of the assassination, Siti was told that her "prank" would be different from the others.
She was told she would be targeting a specific man - and would be joined by another "actress" who would approach him from a different angle.
It was then that the "producer" pulled out a small bottle and poured a sticky liquid onto her hand.
Siti recalled: "[The producer] told me the man was a big boss in his company.
"He said he was very arrogant and might get angry so I should carry out the prank and then get away as quickly as I could."
Remembering her nerves as she and Duong smeared Jong-Nam, Siti added: "He looked annoyed and upset.
"I thought, 'He looks like a rich man and he is clearly angry and he might report us to the police.'"
DEADLY NERVE AGENT
After striking him, the pair dashed off to airport restrooms to wash the liquid from their hands.
This simple act is likely to have saved their lives - as they had in fact been carrying fatal VX nerve agent.
Meanwhile, Jong-Nam collapsed in agony on the airport concourse as each of his vital organs shut down one-by-one.
In a tragic twist of fate, he had in fact been carrying an antidote to the nerve agent in his backpack - but was unable to get to it in time.
Jong-Nam alerted airport officials and was rushed to a clinic - but died in an ambulance on the way to hospital.
At the police station they told me I had been involved in the murder of a president's brother
Siti Aisyah
Siti claims she was oblivious to what she had just done - and spent hours ambling around the airport shopping before going home.
She only became aware of the situation when police came to arrest her two nights later - which she initially believed was another prank.
Siti added: "Then at the police station they told me I had been involved in the murder of a president's brother.
"I just laughed and said 'You must be joking' and asked them to give me my passport and my phone and let me go home.
"But they got angry with me and put me in handcuffs."
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Siti soon came to the realisation that she was in deep trouble - appearing in court two weeks later to be charged with murder, a capital offence.
Fighting back tears, she said: "I was absolutely terrified when I realised I might be executed.
"I was so confused. How could I be in this situation? I cried every day for three months.
"I couldn't eat and I couldn't drink. I thought I'd never see my son again."
In March, her charges were dropped without explanation and she was released.
Jong-Nam's true killers are believed to have fled Malaysia and have never been brought to justice.
CCTV released of the alleged last footage of Kim Jong-nam alive after airport assassination
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