Kim Jong Nam's assassination: Suspects to plead innocent

According to lawyers, two women accused of poisoning the estranged half brother of North Korea's ruler in a bizarre airport assassination are expected to plead innocent when they appear in a Malaysian court on Friday.

Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong are suspected of smearing Kim Jong Nam's face with the banned VX nerve agent at the Kuala Lumpur airport on February 13.

The women, who face the death penalty if convicted, say they were duped into thinking they were playing a harmless prank for a hidden-camera show.

They are the only suspects in custody in a killing that South Korea's spy agency said was part of a plot by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to kill a brother he reportedly never met.