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Agence France-Presse

A Vietnamese woman accused of assassinating the North Korean leader’s half-brother was freed from prison on Friday, ending legal proceedings stemming from the killing despite criticism that the real culprits never faced justice.
After a lengthy trial, Doan Thi Huong pleaded guilty last month to a lesser charge of “causing injury” over the 2017 assassination of Kim Jong-nam, making her the only person convicted for a murder that made headlines around the world.
Weeks earlier, Indonesian Siti Aisyah – the only other person to face trial over the killing carried out with a banned nerve agent at Kuala Lumpur airport – was released and flew home after her murder charge was withdrawn.
Will North Korea try to assassinate Doan Thi Huong and Siti Aisyah?
The pair always denied having committed murder, arguing that they were pawns in a plan hatched by North Korean agents who fled Malaysia after the killing. South Korea accused Pyongyang of plotting the assassination.
Huong, who received a jail term of several years, which was cut due to sentence remissions, was freed from a prison outside the Malaysian capital at about 7.20am, her lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik said.
Journalists waiting outside the jail saw a van and a car with tinted windows race past, and a court official at the scene also confirmed Huong had been released.

Speaking ahead of her release, Hisyam had said she was “definitely looking forward to going home”. The 30-year-old former hair salon worker was expected to head to an immigration office in administrative capital Putrajaya to sort out documentation, before flying to Vietnam in the evening.
Her family, who spoke to the South China Morning Post from Nam Dinh city, 110km north of Hanoi, said they were looking forward to her return.
The assassins have not been brought to justice
Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, lawyer
“I feel extremely happy and excited,” said Doan Van Thanh, her father, who saw his daughter for the first time since her arrest on April 1, when she pleaded guilty to the lesser charge.
“I received help from the Vietnamese government who helped arrange papers and cover expenses for me to go to Malaysia for five days to meet my daughter. We asked about each other’s well-being when I met her in Malaysia.”
Doan Van Binh, Thi Huong’s brother, said he was “filled with joy” at the news of his sister’s release.
“We are preparing a 100kg pig to celebrate,” he said.

While there is relief for the women – who said they believed they were taking part in a TV show prank – those behind the plot are unlikely to ever face justice.
“The assassins have not been brought to justice,” said Hisyam, adding the women’s legal teams consistently argued their North Korean handlers were the real murderers.
Murdered Kim Jong-nam ‘felt he was living on borrowed time’ in Macau
The pair were arrested after they were captured on airport CCTV cameras walking up behind Kim, the estranged half-brother of Kim Jong-un, as he waited for a flight, and one was seen clasping her hands over his face.
Kim, heir apparent to the North’s leadership until he was exiled from his homeland, died in agony shortly afterwards, his face smeared with poison.

Aisyah and Huong were put on trial for murder in October 2017 and faced death by hanging if convicted.
The defence stage of the case was due to start in March, but in a shock move, prosecutors announced they were withdrawing the murder charge against Aisyah, 27, and she flew back to Jakarta.
Her release followed intense diplomatic pressure from Indonesia, including from President Joko Widodo.
Indonesian villagers welcome home Siti Aisyah
Vietnam then stepped up pressure for Huong’s murder charge to be dropped. Their initial request was refused, but at the start of April prosecutors offered her a reduced charge, paving the way for her release.
The assassination sparked a furious row between North Korea and Malaysia, previously one of nuclear-armed Pyongyang’s few allies, and prompted both countries to expel each other’s ambassadors.
Ties have improved in recent times however with Malaysia saying it plans to reopen its embassy in Pyongyang, which was closed shortly after the murder.
Additional reporting by Sen Nguyen


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Kim Jong-nam

Doan Thi Huong, Vietnamese woman linked to Kim Jong-nam murder, walks free from Malaysian jail

Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong has been released. Photo: AP

A prison security officer stands guard as members of the media await the release of Vietnamese national Doan Thi Huong, accused of murdering Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, from prison in Kajang on May 3, 2019. - Doan Thi Huong, the Vietnamese woman accused of assassinating the North Korean leader's half-brother, was freed from prison on May 3, ending legal proceedings stemming from the shocking hit despite criticism that the real culprits never faced justice. (Photo by Mohd RASFAN / AFP)

FILE - This combination of Monday, Oct. 2, 2017, file photos, shows Indonesian Siti Aisyah, left, and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong escorted by police as they leave a court hearing in Shah Alam, Malaysia, outside Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia's high-profile trial of two women accused of killing Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half brother of North Korea's leader resumes Monday, Jan. 22, 2018 after a seven-week recess but defense lawyers said efforts to unfurl the truth have been stymied by missing links. (AP Photo/Daniel Chan)

FILE - Kim Jong Nam, the eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, looks back at a group of photographers before boarding a plane to Beijing at Narita international airport near Tokyo, on May 4, 2001. Kim was fatally poisoned at Kuala Lumpur's airport on Feb. 13, 2017, while traveling under a pseudonym. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi, File)

Female assassins ‘used chemical spray’ to kill Kim Jong-un’s half-brother in Malaysia

(FILES) This file photo taken on February 11, 2007 shows a man believed to be North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il's eldest son, Kim Jong-Nam walking among journalists upon his arrival at the Beijing airport. Kim Jong-Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has been assassinated in Malaysia, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said on February 14, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / JAPAN POOL VIA JIJI PRESS / STR

(170202) -- PYONGYANG, Feb. 2, 2017 (Xinhua) -- Photo provided by Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Feb. 2, 2017 shows top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un recently giving field guidance to the newly built Pyongyang Orphans' Primary School. Kim Jong Un went around the school building, dormitory building and other places to learn in detail about the construction and preparations for operating the school. Then he observed a Korean language lesson of grade two and gave instructions for managing and operating the school. (Xinhua/KCNA)
****Authorized by ytfs****

Late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il with his first-born son Kim Jong-nam in 1981. Photo: AP

(FILES) This file photo taken on May 4, 2001 shows an immigration officer (L) escorting Kim Jong-Nam, son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, getting off a bus to board an ANA905 (All Nippon Airways) airplane at Narita airport near Tokyo. Kim Jong-Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has been assassinated in Malaysia, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said on February 14, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA

Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of North Korean late leader Kim Jong-il. Photo: AFP

Will North Korea try to assassinate Doan Thi Huong and Siti Aisyah, the Vietnamese and Indonesian linked to Kim Jong-nam’s murder?

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Photo: AFP

epa05804924 A South Korean watches a TV news report allegedly showing the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's half-brother Kim Jong-nam at the airport of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, at an office in Seoul, South Korea, 20 February 2017. According to reports, the North Korean embassy in Malaysia asked Malaysian authorities to hand over the body of 46-year-old North Korean named Kim Chol, who was allegedly assassinated at Kuala Lumpur's international airport in Malaysia on 13 February and whose body has been kept at the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital since the incident. Media reports state that Kim Chol, an alias apparently used by Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was attacked by two women with chemical sprays. EPA/JEON HEON-KYUN

Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong leaves Shah Alam High Court in Shah Alam, Malaysia, Monday, April 1, 2019. The murder of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s estranged half-brother at an airport in Malaysia was brazen, intricately orchestrated and, thanks to scores of security cameras, witnessed by millions around the world. The real masterminds behind the killing, however, may never be brought to justice.(AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

A man, who identified himself as Kim Han Sol, speaks in an unknown location, in this undated video posted on YouTube by a group called Cheollima Civil Defense. An official at South Korea's National Intelligence Service said the man in the video is the 21-year-old son of Kim Jong Nam, who was killed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on February 13, 2017 by assassins who Malaysian police say used a super-toxic nerve agent. Reuters could not independently verify the video. But the man closely resembled Kim Han Sol, who was last interviewed on camera in 2012 by former Finnish defense minister Elisabeth Rehn. Cheollima Civil Defense via YouTube/via Reuters TV. ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. VIDEO WATERMARKED AT SOURCE. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVE. REUTERS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THIS IMAGE. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

FILE - In this June 4, 2010, file photo, Kim Jong Nam, the eldest son of then North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, waves after his first-ever interview with South Korean media in Macau. The murder of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s estranged half-brother at an airport in Malaysia was brazen, intricately orchestrated and, thanks to scores of security cameras, witnessed by millions around the world. The real masterminds behind the killing, however, may never be brought to justice. (Shin In-seop/JoongAng Ilbo via AP, File)

Chaos, jubilation and chants of ‘Kim Jong-nam’ as Indonesian villagers welcome home  Siti Aisyah, ex-suspect in killing of North Korean leader’s half brother

Villagers gather to welcome Siti Aisyah, formerly accused of killing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's estranged half brother, in Rancasumur, Indonesia, Tuesday, March 12, 2019. A chaotic crush of jubilant villagers and reporters has greeted the young Indonesian woman who was freed after Malaysia dropped a prosecution that alleged she was a trained killer who murdered the estranged half brother of North Korea's leader two years ago. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)

A crush of media and well-wishers greet Siti Aisyah, centre, as she arrives at her home village of Rancasumur on Tuesday evening. Photo: AP

News

Asia

Southeast Asia

Indonesian Siti Aisyah – the only other person accused of the 2017 killing using a banned nerve agent – had already been freed
The pair always denied having committed murder, arguing that they were pawns in a plan hatched by North Korean agents who fled Malaysia


Indonesian Siti Aisyah – the only other person accused of the 2017 killing using a banned nerve agent – had already been freed.


Vietnam

Malaysia

Doan Thi Huong, Vietnamese woman linked to Kim Jong-nam murder, walks free from Malaysian jail

Indonesian Siti Aisyah – the only other person accused of the 2017 killing using a banned nerve agent – had already been freed The pair always denied having committed murder, arguing that they were pawns in a plan hatched by North Korean agents who fled Malaysia

Indonesian Siti Aisyah – the only other person accused of the 2017 killing using a banned nerve agent – had already been freed

The pair always denied having committed murder, arguing that they were pawns in a plan hatched by North Korean agents who fled Malaysia