U.S. Hits North Korea With New Sanctions for Kim Jong Nam Assassination

The U.S. has slapped new sanctions on North Korea after concluding that Pyongyang used a chemical weapon to assassinate Kim Jong Un’s half-brother in Malaysia last year, the State Department said late Tuesday. The sanctions, which took effect Monday, appeared to be mostly symbolic, but respond to North Korea “us[ing] chemical weapons in violation of international law or lethal chemical weapons against its own nationals,” according to a statement from the State Department. North Korea has long been suspected of involvement in the brazen killing of Kim Jong Nam last February, a crime for which two women are standing trial. Kim died after reportedly having the deadly VX nerve agent smeared on his face at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.