North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is fast being deserted by its closest allies. Even Beijing, Pyongyang's greatest supporter, has cancelled its regular supply of North Korea's coal. Family feuding has complicated matters. The country has been ruled by the Kim dynasty for decades, and now with the murder of Kim Jong-nam, estranged brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, it has become clear that these feuds have become murderous. Pyongyang has not acknowledged that the man killed in Malaysia in February was indeed Kim Jong-nam. But, his murder raises major questions about the North Korean regime. Of Kim Jong-nam's death in mysterious circumstances at Kuala Lumpur airport, the North Korean Jurists Committee has only said that the greatest responsibility for the death “rests with the government of Malaysia”. The DPRK with a population of 25 million, a GDP of $25 billion and a per capita income of $1,000 is no match for the Republic of Korea (South Korea), which has a population of more than 50 million, a GDP of $1,929 trillion and a per capita income of $37,948. Furthermore, South Korea was one of the few developed countries that avoided recession during the 2007-2008 financial crisis. Its capital Seoul is one of the world's largest cities with 25 million residents, in other words the same as the whole of the DPRK. South Korea also has a thriving entertainment industry whose entertainment, including televised dramas, films and popular music, has generated significant financial revenues for the nation's economy. South Korea is considered a major soft power as an exporter of popular culture and entertainment, rivalling Western nations such as the United States and the United Kingdom. In spite of its political problems, South Korea has the world's fastest Internet speed and highest smartphone ownership, ranking first in ICT development and e-government and 4G coverage. Its economic growth rate has soared at an annual average of 10 per cent for over 30 years. The pertinent question now is whether South Korea can absorb North Korea the way the then West Germany gobbled up East Germany after the collapse of communism in Europe in 1990. Kim Jong-nam was killed within 20 minutes by VX, perhaps the deadliest nerve agent known to humanity, which is also colourless and odourless. The deadly nerve agent is not radioactive, but Malaysian police have said that its radiological team and the country's atomic energy board would be involved in the investigations as a precaution. Malaysia has declared that it will thoroughly examine the terminals at Kuala Lumpur International Airport for toxic chemicals. And the mystery is still unravelling even weeks after Kim Jong-nam's murder. The friendship between Malaysia and North Korea going back to the 1970s has certainly soured in the wake of the murder. The killing marks a watershed in Pyongyang's relations with its Asian neighbours, and US President Donald Trump immediately banned Choe Son-hui, who runs the American affairs bureau of Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry, from travelling to New York. North Korea also launched a new type of nuclear-capable missile days before the assassination of Kim Jong-nam. News of the missile test arrived as Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shunzo Abe were enjoying dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Trump's members-only club in Florida. North Korea executed five senior security officials for making false reports that apparently “enraged” leader Kim Jong-nam, South Korea's largest news agency Yonhap reported on Monday. But South Korea is also in political turmoil at the moment. Special prosecutors plan to indict up to 15 suspects this week on the final day of their investigation into a scandal involving President Park Geun-hye who was impeached late last year and her confidante Choi Soon-sil. The independent counsel team was set to end its 70-day probe on Tuesday as acting president and prime minister Hwang Kyo-ahn refused to extend its legal term on Monday. In short, Pyongyang's dictator acts with impunity while South Korea's leaders are subjected to scrutiny. Yet, Seoul seizes every opportunity to highlight Pyongyang's blunders. South Korea's spy agency also said on Monday that Pyongyang was behind the assassination of Kim Jong-nam. Malaysian police have still to receive DNA samples from Kim Jong-nam's next of kin, and North Korea refuses to cooperate with Kuala Lumpur. Meanwhile, Malaysian Police Chief Khalid Abu Bakr has accused Pyongyang of the assassination and four North Korean agents are wanted by the Malaysian police. He said the two women, one Vietnamese, one Indonesian, arrested last week had been paid for carrying out the fatal assault on Kim Jong-nam using a fast-acting poison. Malaysia's Selangor state Police Chief Abdul-Samah Mat said 44-year-old Hyon Kwang-song, a second secretary at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, was wanted for questioning in the assassination case, one of seven North Koreans wanted. Malaysia is one of few nations that until recently had cordial relations with Pyongyang and has diplomatic ties with the pariah nation. Only four nations, including North Korea, have not signed the 1990 Chemicals Convention, an International Labour Organisation Convention. Albania, South Korea, India, Libya and Syria, have completed the destruction of their stockpiles. Russia and the United States, which declared the largest amounts of chemical weapons, are in the process of destruction. Israel has signed but not ratified the Chemicals Convention, and Egypt, North Korea, and South Sudan have neither signed nor ratified the convention. North Korea's KCNA news agency reported that Pyongyang blamed Malaysia for its citizen's death and accused it of adopting an “unfriendly attitude”. The investigation has unleashed a diplomatic fracas between Malaysia and North Korea, particularly the revelation that the banned chemical weapon VX was used, raising the stakes in a case that has broad geopolitical implications. Indonesian embassy officials on Saturday met with one of the suspects detained in connection with the murder, Indonesian national Siti Aishah. “She only said in general that somebody asked her to do this activity. She said she was given a kind of oil, like baby oil,” Indonesian Deputy Ambassador Andreano Erwin told reporters in Jakarta. In Kuala Lumpur airport surveillance footage, the women appear to smear something onto Kim's face before walking away in separate directions. Vietnamese officials also met with their national but declined to comment. The Vietnamese woman who was arrested, Doan Thi Huong, thought she was taking part in a prank, Vietnam's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday after a representative from the Vietnamese embassy met with Huong. “I have instructed our foreign minister to provide assistance and protection to Siti Aishah through a lawyer. So there can be some clarity on whether or not she is a victim,” Indonesian President Joko Widodo said in Jakarta. As Al-Ahram Weekly went to press, the details of the murder were still unravelling. The international consensus is that Pyongyang must be brought to book. But that does not mean it will be easy to topple the regime in the DPRK.
