High Court judge Azmi Ariffin ruled that the prosecution had proven a prima facie case for murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code against Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong.
The two women are accused of murdering Kim Jong Nam at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (klia2) by spraying his face with VX nerve agent on Feb 13 last year.
They claimed trial to the charge in October. If convicted, they could face the death penalty.
Jong Nam, the eldest son of former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, was waiting to board a flight to Macau when he was attacked.
His death sparked a diplomatic row between Putrajaya and Pyongyang, with Malaysia recalling its ambassador and cancelling visa-free entry for North Koreans.
North Korea retaliated with a travel ban on all Malaysians in Pyongyang, trapping three diplomats and six family members.
They were able to fly out only after Malaysia agreed to hand over Jong Nam’s corpse and send three North Koreans wanted for questioning back to North Korea.
In June, however, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Malaysia would reopen its embassy in Pyongyang.
In the opening statement on the first day of trial, the prosecution said it would prove that Siti Aisyah and Doan approached Jong Nam at the klia2 departure hall and sprayed his face with VX nerve agent, which the United Nations classifies as a weapon of mass destruction.
Prosecutors told the court the women’s actions showed that they intended to cause Jong Nam’s death.
About 30 witnesses testified throughout the trial which ran from October 2017 to April this year.