It was over almost as soon as it began.
In a mere five seconds, the pudgy playboy son of late North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il was taken down by a team of poison-toting assassins in a 007-style murder plot.
Just before the Monday execution, Kim Jong-nam was standing near the check-in desk at bustling Kuala Lumpur International Airport ahead of a flight to his Macau home, the New Straits Times reported Thursday.
Little did he know that his stealthy female attackers — one wearing a T-shirt that read “LOL” — were skulking in the background, waiting for the opportunity to pounce.
When they struck, Jong-nam had little time to think.
One agent stepped in front of Jong-nam, the banished step-brother of current North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, and distracted him, as another woman wearing a dark glove on one hand locked him in a chokehold from behind, then squirted a toxic spray on his face.
The women were gone in a flash, disappearing into the crowded airport.
Feeling dizzy, Jong-nam walked toward an airport bathroom, but was soon overcome with pain and turned back in agony toward a reception desk.
A female AirAsian staffer escorted him to an airport clinic, where his condition only deteriorated. There, he shut his eyes and slumped in a chair, grimacing in pain.
By the time he reached Putrajaya Hospital for emergency treatment, Jong-nam was dead.
The spy-movie-worthy attack went off with just one hitch — Jong-nam’s assassins were caught on cameras throughout the airport.
Doan Thi Huong, 28, was arrested Wednesday when she returned to the airport. Authorities identified her using footage from a surveillance camera affixed to a taxi stand outside a departure terminal.
Huong’s alleged female accomplice, Siti Aisyah, 25, of Indonesia, was arrested Thursday morning along with her boyfriend, Muhammad Farid Bin Jalaluddin, 26, of Malaysia.
“She was also positively identified from the CCTV footage at the airport and was alone at the time of arrest,” Police Inspector-General Khalid Abu Bakar said in a statement.
All told, six suspects are believed to be behind the murder plot.
A Malaysian security source told the Telegraph the six perpetrators were total strangers to each other before the assassination, and the two women and four men were recruited for the job by a secret agent.
One of the men may have disguised himself as a woman during the attack, the NST reported.
“We have reason to believe that this might be the work of foreign agents,” Federal Police Special Branch director Datuk Seri Mohamad Fuzi Harun said.
In another twist, Aisyah and Huong both allegedly told police they thought the plot was part of a “prank” — and didn’t know they’d be taking out the exiled prince.
Aisyah had been working as a nightclub hostess in Kuala Lumpur when a strange man came into the establishment and offered her $100 if she’d join the team, she told police, according to Indonesian news site Kumpuran.
Not knowing who Jong-nam was, the divorced mom went along with the stunt because she was strapped for cash, she claimed.
Huong, who said she went back to the airport to catch a flight after the others abandoned her, told a similar story to authorities, saying she was also tricked into carrying out the plot.
The mastermind behind the murder remains unknown — but some were quick to blame Jong-nam’s reportedly jealous, estranged half-brother.
Jong-un was suspected to be behind two past assassination attempts against Jong-nam, in 2010 and 2011. Five years ago, Jong-nam even begged the North Korean dictator not to harm him and his family, South Korea’s intelligence agency said.
“He knew his life was at risk . . . and he was aware his brother was after him,” a source told the South China Morning Post.
Despite his fears, Jong-nam had a relaxed attitude about his personal security, and even chronicled his glamorous life on Facebook.
Using the alias Kim Chol — the same name printed on his passport during the Monday attack — the banished heir posted numerous photos of himself in front of fancy hotels and tourist sites around the world, according to The Telegraph of Britain.
The profile page for Chol says he attended international schools in Geneva and Moscow, and listed his residence as Macau.
“Open activities like these do not look like they are coming from a person who is constantly under death threats,” South Korean Intelligence Secretary Cha Du-hyeogn told The Telegraph.
“I think it is possible that Kim was careless, leading to his unsuspecting death.”