Two women accused of killing the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un pleaded not guilty to murder charges in a Malaysian court today.

Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Doan Thi Huong, a Vietnamese, are charged with assassinating Kim Jong-nam by smearing his face with VX, a chemical poison banned by the United Nations, at Kuala Lumpur's international airport on Feb 13.

They face the death penalty if convicted, reported Reuters.

The two women nodded their heads when the charge was read out to them before judge Azmi Ariffin at the Shah Alam court.

Meanwhile according to Bernama, evidence gathered clearly shows that two women had wiped highly toxic liquid, the nerve agent VX, on the face of Kim, the High Court heard.

Selangor prosecution director, Muhamad Iskandar Ahmad said the prosecution would provide evidence that the deceased (Kim Jong-nam) was at the Departure Hall of KLIA2, where the first accused, Indonesian national Siti Aisyah, 25, and the second accused, Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, 28, had approached the deceased and wiped the lethal liquid on his face and eyes.

“Expert testimony will be presented to prove that the effects of the toxic nerve agent VX had caused his death and the chances for him to be saved was slim,” he said in the prosecution’s opening statement on the first day of the trial of Siti Aisyah and Doan for the alleged murder.

Muhamad Iskandar said the actions of the two accused showed intent to cause the death of the North Korean man as his condition was normal before his face and eyes were wiped with the toxic liquid.

He said the evidence also showed that after the two women had done that, the victim went straight to an officer on duty at the Customer Service Counter to complain about the incident and the officer then brought the victim to a policeman before taking him to a clinic at the KLIA2 terminal.

“However, the victim died on the way to Putrajaya Hospital to seek further treatment. The victim’s body was then taken to the Forensics Department of Kuala Lumpur Hospital for a post-mortem and the cause of death was stated by the pathologist as ‘acute VX (nerve agent) poisoning’.”

He said the prosecution would also present testimony on the role of four others still at large, where the actions of the two accused with ‘prank training’ provided by the four others showed the intent of all the six individuals involved to cause the death of the victim.

Muhamad Iskandar said in proving that the two accused were the ones who committed the murder, the prosecution would present direct, circumstantial, expert , scientific and documentary evidence.

Besides that, there would be other evidence to be presented like the case items found and seized to prove that the two accused and four others still at large had killed the victim, he said.

Kim Jong-nam was reportedly at KLIA2 on Feb 13 to take a flight to Macau when two women came close and suddenly wiped his face with a toxic liquid, which was later confirmed to be the nerve agent VX.

Jong-nam who was taking the flight using a passport under the name of Kim Chol, died while being taken to Putrajaya Hospital. He had arrived in Malaysia on Feb 6.