A Vietnamese woman accused of killing North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's estranged half brother told police she realised she had been used to murder him after she was detained, her lawyer says.
Doan Thi Huong and co-defendant Siti Aisyah from Indonesia were charged with murder after Kim Jong-nam died at Kuala Lumpur's airport on February 13 last year.
The two are the only suspects in custody, though prosecutors said four North Koreans who fled the country were also involved.
The court heard earlier that Huong told police after she was detained last year that she was recruited by a Korean man known as Mr. Y in a Hanoi bar in December 2016.
Mr. Y has been identified in court as Ri Ji Hyon, one of the four North Korean suspects who fled Malaysia.
On Tuesday, the court heard that Huong thought she was playing a harmless prank for a hidden camera show and only knew Kim was dead after police told her.
Her lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik said Huong told police that Mr. Y put an oily substance on her hands and told her to rub her hands together before smearing it on Kim's face but that she didn't know it was the VX nerve agent.
Two days before the attack on Kim, Huong told police she was given Johnson's baby cream for a similar prank at the airport and didn't wash it off.
The two women face the death penalty if convicted, but not if they lacked intent to kill.
Prosecutors contend the women, who both were seen on security videos holding their hands away from their bodies as they rushed to wash off the oily liquid, knew they were handling poison.
Australian Associated Press
