1. North Korean tyrant heir Kim Jong-un had a half-brother named Kim Jong-nam who was considered the likely successor to their father Kim Jong-il until an embarrassing 2001 incident in which he (Kim Jong-nam) was arrested for using a forged Dominican Republic passport to try to visit Tokyo Disneyland.
2. Kim Jong-nam subsequently left North Korea and lived in exile in various locations throughout Asia, making public comments critical of his half-brother once Kim Jong-un ascended to power.
3. Kim Jong-nam died on Monday after he was apparently sprayed with poison at an airport in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, by two women.
4. One of the women detained in connection with his death was carrying Vietnamese papers and can be seen on airport security footage wearing a shirt with LOL written on it in large letters. (As CNN explains, “the acronym, popular with social media and smartphone users, stands for ‘laugh out loud.’ “)
5. The other woman, apparently, is from Indonesia, and now a top Indonesian law enforcement official is claiming she was tricked into participating in the assassination by being told she was participating in a TV prank show. From the AP:
Tito Karnavian told reporters in Indonesia’s Aceh province that Siti Aisyah, 25, was paid to be involved in “Just For Laughs” style pranks, a reference to a popular hidden camera show.
He said she and another woman performed stunts which involved convincing men to close their eyes and then spraying them with water.
“Such an action was done three or four times and they were given a few dollars for it, and with the last target, Kim Jong Nam, allegedly there were dangerous materials in the sprayer,” Karnavian said.
We live in strange times. LOL!
