This week, we’ve got chemical warfare, family violence, and dangerous future precedents.

What happened?

Kim Jong Nam, the brother of the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, was killed in a Malaysian airport on February 13th, 2017. Investigations reported that two women rubbed either water or some other liquid substance on his face as part of a reality TV show, which then resulted in his death.

Recent developments, particularly on February 23rd, showed that the substance that caused the death of Kim Jong Nam was none other than the chemical agent known as the VX nerve agent. This is a chemical substance that was banned as per the provisions from the United Nations Security Council Resolution 687, along with it being classified as a weapon of mass destruction. A highly toxic chemical compound, it can cause constrictions of muscle cells through manipulated stimuli of the nerve cells, leading to a complete disruption of the nervous system and rupture of muscles, leading to extreme constrictions that result in death. 10 milligrams of the chemical is sufficient for death through physical contact.

A large amount of suspicion is provided towards Kim Jong Un, who possibly may have ordered the two women who rubbed the substance on the face of his brother to do so for his own motives to be fulfilled. There are four other North Korean men who are believed to be suspects who are still at large. Authorities believe that they have been the ones who instructed the two women to approach Kim Jong Nam and rubbed the baby oil, as it was later revealed through interviews and interrogations of the two women.

The two women who performed the act were arrested, as were a Vietnamese woman and a North Korean man. When the women who committed the act were questioned, they revealed that they were approached by a group who looked vaguely Japanese or Korean who paid her 40 ringgits to do the activity. She was given a baby oil, which then came into physical contact with her as she applied it to Kim Jong Nam’s face. The most confusing outcome is that the main person who applied the oil to her hand to transitionally apply it to Kim Jong Nam’s face was not affected by the strand albeit it coming to contact with her body.

What does this mean?

This sets a highly dangerous precedent for the future in terms of the development of warfare as per what North Korea may be doing. The involvement of such a highly volatile and dangerous chemical weapon is crossing a red line, as per the input of various political analysts, journalists, and other influential individuals who had a stance on the matter. Such behavior means that the development of weaponry in North Korea could show the signs of something much larger than life and much more dangerous than anyone could have ever anticipated. There are worries of North Korea potentially selling the large reserves of VX that they currently possess to terrorists, a prospect that could be potentially damning to the security of the entire world. If chemical warfare is thrown into the mix, it would make casualty counts skyrocket exponentially.

Taking this one step further, it brings in shades of previous events that have occurred that caused large-scale acts of violence to break out. Shades of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand echo in the background as suspicions of manipulation in the modern day cry out as we witness the slew of concerning behavior that arises from the North Korean government.

On a note related to the chemical itself, concerns arise about the use of the chemical in a public airport, as there could have been additional possible exposure of the chemical to the public. The potential carelessness of the murderers, as well as simply the general application of such a dangerous compound in a public area, always exponentially increases the risk of widespread contamination. Although no reports have come in that indicate any sort of contamination of anyone present at the airport during the time of the murder, the fear and concerns remain.

This does not look good for the future of the world in terms of warfare, politics and the existence of the world writ large. Yet another large scale war looms on the horizon.