Woman accused of killing Kim's brother to be released after murder charge dropped

The Vietnamese woman who smeared North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's half-brother's face with a lethal agent in Kuala Lumpur's airport in 2017 was sentenced to 3 years and 4 months in prison and is expected to be released next month after she accepted a plea deal offered by Malaysian prosecutors. The prosecution said they decided to drop the murder charge, which carries a mandatory death sentence, after the Vietnamese side reached out to them. Doan Thi Huong instead pled guilty to a charge of causing harm with dangerous means, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, a fine or whipping. She has already spent over three years in custody, and her lawyer hopes she will be released in the first week of May after the rest of her sentence is reduced for good behavior. Last month, the prosecution dropped a murder charge in the same case against Indonesian woman Siti Aisyah, who was then released from custody and flew back to her home country. The women claim they thought they were doing a reality TV prank rather than a hit job.

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