"I seriously doubt that [we] are going to find out what exactly happened … CIA is such a broad term. Who exactly in the CIA [was connected to Kim Jong Nam] and for what purpose [are] equally important [questions that need to be asked]", Pastereich told Loud & Clear hosts John Kiriakou and Brian Becker.
“It is clear that there have been large parts of the apparatus in North Korea that have worked with elements outside of North Korea for various purposes. Why this [allegation] came out today [is something that needs to be considered].”
"And as a footnote to that, I would say there was a story in the Daily Mirror today [titled] ‘Kim Jong Un executes general by throwing him in piranha-filled fish tank.’ So, I got to say, whatever they say in the media, I have to take with a grain of salt these days", Pastereich added.
According to one anonymous source who recently spoke to the Wall Street Journal, "there was a nexus" between the CIA and Kim Jong Nam. However, the details of Kim Jong Nam's alleged relationship with the CIA are unknown. In addition, the source revealed that US intelligence officials were relieved that Kim Jong Nam's connection to the CIA was not revealed following his assassination.
Kim Jong Nam's alleged link to the CIA is also discussed in "The Great Successor," a book written by Washington Post reporter Anna Fifield and published June 11. Fifield similarly cites "someone with knowledge of the intelligence who spoke on condition of anonymity".
Kim Jong Un "would have considered [Kim Jong Nam] talking to American spies a treacherous act," Fifield writes in her book, "but Kim Jong Nam provided information to them, meeting his handlers in Singapore and Malaysia". According to Fifield, during Kim Jong Nam’s last trip to Malaysia in 2017, he was seen on hotel security footage in an elevator "with an Asian-looking man who was reported to be an American intelligence agent."
Former US officials who also spoke to the Wall Street Journal said that Kim Jong Nam was "almost certainly in contact with security services of other countries, particularly China's". However, both Chinese officials and the CIA refused to corroborate this information to the outlet.
The North Korean leader's half brother was killed in Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur International Airport in February 2017, when two women smeared the nerve agent VX on his face. The two, a Vietnamese woman named Doan Thi Huong and an Indonesian woman named Siti Aisyah, were both charged with Kim Jong Nam's murder.
In April, Doan pleaded guilty to "voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means" and was released from prison in May. The court dropped the charges against Aisyah in March. Both women claimed that they believed they were a part of a prank for a reality TV show when they attacked Kim Jong Nam.
