KUALA LUMPUR - The Indonesian suspect in the murder of Kim Jong Nam said she thought the substance used on him was baby oil, and maintained that she was duped into committing the act and was paid RM400 (S$126) for it .
"She didn't know that it was poison," Indonesia's Deputy Ambassador to Malaysia Andreano Erwin told reporters on Saturday (Feb 25) after a 30-minute meeting with Siti Aishah.
"She said she was paid RM400 for her activities...She only said in general that somebody had asked her to do (it) and she didn't know what would happen next," the New Straits Times (NST) quoted him as saying after the meeting at Cyberjaya police station.
"She mentioned some names, but I did not recognise them. The names were very general… James, Jang, that's it."
The 25-year-old woman also said "they were maybe Japanese or Korean," the Indonesian diplomat was quoted as saying.
The embassy will arrange for a lawyer for Siti Aishah, adding that her case may be brought to the court once her remand ends on March 1, according to the report.
The deputy ambassador also said the woman was physically healthy and was able to answer their questions.
"We did not see any effect of the poison. Emotionally, we do not know, will need more checks for that," he was quoted as saying.
Her fingerprints had been sent to Indonesia for checks to confirm that she was the owner of the passport found on her.
The report said representatives from the Vietnamese embassy also met the other suspect Doan Thi Huong, but they refused to speak to the media.
Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said in a statement on Friday that the VX nerve agent - classified as a weapon of mass destruction by the United Nations - was found on swabs of Kim Jong Nam's face and eyes.
Just a drop of the toxin - which can last for days on objects it comes into contact with - is enough to kill an adult in minutes, according to experts.
The estranged half-brother of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un was killed on Feb 13 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 where he was about to board a flight to Macau.
Two women went up to him and wiped the poison on his face before walking away. He died on the way to hospital.
The police chief said one of the two women arrested had fallen ill in custody and had vomited.
