#!/usr/bin/perl
use warnings;
use strict;

$|++;

#You could fork off a child and call exec from that child.
#Then you could use the PID from fork to call kill. Thus:
my $kidpid;

if ( !defined( $kidpid = fork() ) ) {
    #fork returned undef, so failed
    die "Cannot fork: $!";
}
elsif ( $kidpid == 0 ) {
                 exec("xterm -e mc &");
               # xterm stays open until mc is exited
               # or a custom command processor  
            }

# this is all executed in the parent
#...
print "pid  $kidpid\n";
sleep 5;
# kill -9, $kidpid;

print "hit Enter to exit main script\n";
<>;
exit;