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KUALA LUMPUR: A small group of local and international media gathered in front of the North Korean Embassy located in Jalan Batai near the Royal Commonwealth Club on Friday (March 19), following news that North Korea wanted cut ties with Malaysia.
Media staff arrived at 9 a.m. to check on the situation and whether or not there was activity at the embassy here.
Several cars were seen leaving the embassy area, but none stopped to address the media.
Cameramen and photographers continued to take photos of the surroundings near the embassy gates when vehicles were seen leaving the area.
It is known that Wisma Putra will soon issue a statement on the matter.
North Korea’s state media outlet KCNA previously reported that it would sever diplomatic ties with Malaysia after a Kuala Lumpur court earlier this month extradited one of its citizens, Mun Chol-myong, to the United States. United to face money laundering charges.
The report indicated that the North Korean Foreign Ministry had warned that Washington would pay a price for its shares.
Mun was arrested in 2019 after the United States accused him of laundering funds through front companies and issuing fraudulent documents to support illicit shipments to North Korea.
He opposed the extradition request, arguing that it was politically motivated.
The North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the extradition a “nefarious act and an unforgivable crime” by the Malaysian authorities, who had “offered our citizen as a sacrifice by the hostile US movement in defiance of the recognized international laws “.
The report said Malaysia’s actions had destroyed “the entire foundation of bilateral relations based on respect for sovereignty.”
Malaysia and North Korea were previously embroiled in a diplomatic dispute after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s estranged brother, Kim Jong-nam, was assassinated at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang in February 2017.
The incident occurred when two foreign women allegedly smeared his face with a VX nerve agent that was listed as a weapon of mass destruction by the United Nations.
After that, Malaysia suspended operations at its embassy in Pyongyang after ensuring the safe return of nine citizens detained within its embassy compound, in exchange for the release of Jong-nam’s body and the release of three of its diplomats. based in Kuala Lumpur.
Diplomatic relations appeared to be improving with the calm of the Pakatan Harapan federal government in 2018, but it did not fully materialize.
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