The trial of two women accused of killing Kim Jong-un’s half-brother will resume in Malaysia after months of delay on Monday, with a Vietnamese suspect in the case taking to the stand for the first time.

In a brazen plot resembling a spy thriller, Doan Thi Huong, 29, from Vietnam, and Siti Aisyah, 25, from Indonesia, are suspected of assassinating Kim Jong Nam, 45, by smearing lethal VX nerve agent on his face at Kuala Lumpur airport in February 2017.

The women were ordered to testify in an August ruling by High Court Judge Azmi Ariffin, who said that it could be inferred from evidence presented in court that there was a "well-planned conspiracy" between them and four North Korean suspects to kill Kim. The North Koreans remain at large.

He said he "cannot rule out that this could be a political assassination" but noted there was no concrete evidence to support this.

The two young women, both from impoverished backgrounds but with aspirations for stardom, have claimed since their arrest shortly after the murder that they were duped by North Korean agents into believing that they were actors in a TV prank show when they wiped the toxic substance on Kim’s face.