North Korea and ASEAN heal ties torn by Kim brother's murder

Two years after airport incident, suspects await ruling as early as summer

20190212N Doan Thi Huong

Doan Thi Huong, center, is escorted out of a courthouse in Kuala Lumpur on Aug. 16, 2018. She is one of two women on trial for the killing of Kim Jong Nam, half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. © Reuters

TAKASHI NAKANO, Nikkei staff writer

KUALA LUMPUR -- North Korea and key members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are finally starting to mend fences two years after the murder of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's half brother in Malaysia.

Diplomatic tensions had flared after the incident as Southeast Asian countries bristled at their own citizens being dragged into the affair. A Vietnamese woman and an Indonesian woman have been charged with killing Kim Jong Nam at Kuala Lumpur International Airport by smearing VX nerve agent on his face.

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