Kim Hjelmgaard

USA TODAY

Two women will be charged with the murder of the estranged half-brother of North Korea's leader, Malaysian officials said Tuesday. If convicted, Indonesian Siti Aisyah, 25, and Doan Thi Huong of Vietnam, 28, could face the death penalty.

Malaysian Attorney General Mohamed Apandi said the pair will be charged Wednesday over Kim Jong Nam's Feb. 13. death at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. No decision has been made over whether to charge two other suspects, a Malaysian out on bail and a North Korean in custody. Authorities are seeking seven other North Korean suspects in the incident that resembles the plot of a spy thriller. Several may have already returned to North Korea.

Malaysian police said Siti and Doan placed the deadly nerve agent VX on Kim’s face amid crowds of travelers at Kuala Lumpur's airport. Kim died on the way to a hospital, in pain, within about 20 minutes of the attack. The women claim they thought they were taking part in a televised prank. South Korea has accused North Korea of orchestrating Kim's death on behalf of the North's leader Kim Jong Un.

But North Korea has resisted that characterization and refused to accept Malaysia's identification of the victim, acknowledging only that a North Korean national with a diplomatic passport was killed. News that Siti and Doan will be charged under a section of the penal code that carries a mandatory death sentence, came as a high-level delegation including North Korea's former deputy ambassador to the United Nations arrived in Malaysia on Tuesday to discuss the escalating diplomatic row.

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Ri Tong-il, the former U.N. deputy ambassador, will request that Malaysia hand over Kim's body to North Korea, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap. Ri will also ask Malaysia to release the North Korean suspect who remains in custody. The North has accused Malaysia of colluding with South Korea in the investigation.

Kim, who died aged 45, was the eldest son and onetime apparent heir to North Korea's late leader Kim Jong Il. But he fell out of favor with his father, which led to exile, and his younger paternal half-brother — Kim Jong Un, 33 — assumed the role on Kim the elder's death in 2011. He was on his way home to Macau when he was killed and he didn't appear to have any political ambitions, although he had been critical of his half-brother's regime and may have been viewed as a threat.

Police have released few details about the women charged with Kim's murder, but believe they were aware of what they were doing. Local media reports said Doan is the daughter of a rice farmer from Vietnam. She was caught on security cameras at the airport wearing a shirt with the acronym "LOL" across it. Siti said she was paid $90 to smear what she thought was a harmless liquid similar to baby oil on Kim's face. Police said both women washed their hands shortly after the encounter.