Police cordon off the entrance of the court house as trial of Vietnamese suspect Doan Thi Huong and Indonesian suspect Siti Aisyah at the Shah Alam court house at Shah Alam, Malaysia, Monday, Oct. 2, 2017. The trial of two women accused of poisoning the estranged half brother of North Korea's ruler is scheduled to begin Monday in Malaysia's High Court, nearly eight months after the brazen airport assassination. (AP Photo/Joshhua Paul)
Police cordon off the entrance of the court house as trial of Vietnamese suspect Doan Thi Huong and Indonesian suspect Siti Aisyah at the Shah Alam court house at Shah Alam, Malaysia, Monday, Oct. 2, 2017. The trial of two women accused of poisoning the estranged half brother of North Korea's ruler is scheduled to begin Monday in Malaysia's High Court, nearly eight months after the brazen airport assassination. (AP Photo/Joshhua Paul) Credit: Joshua Paul

Shah Alam, Malaysia — Two women accused of fatally poisoning the estranged half brother of North Korea’s leader pleaded not guilty as their trial began on Monday in Malaysia’s High Court, nearly eight months after the brazen airport assassination that sparked a diplomatic standoff.

Siti Aisyah of Indonesia and Doan Thi Huong of Vietnam are suspected of smearing Kim Jong Nam’s face with the banned VX nerve agent on Feb. 13 at a crowded airport terminal in Kuala Lumpur, killing him within about 20 minutes. The women say they thought they were playing a harmless prank for a hidden-camera TV show.

After the charges were read to them in their native languages, the women shook their heads “no” when asked if they were guilty.

The two women are the only suspects in custody in a killing that South Korea’s spy agency said was part of a five-year plot by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to kill a brother he reportedly never met.

Lawyers for the two women, who face the death penalty if convicted, asked the court to compel prosecutors to identify four people still at large mentioned in the charge sheet as having a common intention to kill Kim. The judge denied the request.