North Korean diplomats leave Malaysia after relations break

KUALA LUMPUR: North Korean diplomats vacated their embassy in Malaysia and prepared to leave the country on Sunday (March 21), after the two nations cut diplomatic ties in a dispute over the extradition of a suspected North Korean criminal to the United States.

The North Korean flag and embassy signage have been removed from the facility in a suburb of Kuala Lumpur. Two buses transported the diplomats and their families to the airport, where they were seen checking in for a flight to Shanghai.

Ties between North Korea and Malaysia have been virtually frozen since the 2017 assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s half-brother at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Two days after Kuala Lumpur extradited a North Korean to the United States to face money laundering charges, an angry North Korea announced on Friday that it was ending its relations with Malaysia. Malaysia denounced the decision and, in a tit-for-tat response, gave North Korean diplomats 48 hours to leave.

Kim Yu Song, a chargé d’affaires and counselor in Kuala Lumpur, said Malaysia had “committed an unforgivable crime.” Echoing Pyongyang’s earlier statement, he accused Malaysia of being subordinate to the United States and of being part of an American conspiracy aimed at “isolating and suffocating” his country.

“The Malaysian authority handed over our citizen to the United States in the end, thus destroying the foundations of bilateral relations based on respect for sovereignty,” he said in a brief statement in front of the embassy, ​​before heading to the airport.

North Korea has called the money laundering accusations an “absurd fabrication and (a) pure conspiracy” orchestrated by the United States, and warned that Washington “will pay the due price.”

LEE: Malaysia denounces North Korea’s decision to break diplomatic relations

READ: North Korea’s decision to sever ties will not affect Malaysia’s economy, says finance minister

Some experts say that cutting ties with Malaysia was North Korea’s way of showing anger at the administration of President Joe Biden, without jeopardizing an eventual return to nuclear negotiations with Washington.

North Korea has insisted that it will not enter into talks with Washington unless it abandons what Pyongyang perceives as a “hostile” policy. But experts say North Korea will eventually seek to return to diplomacy to find ways to ease sanctions and revive its moribund economy.

Malaysia has defended its decision to extradite Mun Chol Myong, saying it was carried out only after all legal processes were exhausted. A higher court ruled that Mun can be extradited after rejecting his appeal on the grounds that the US charges were politically motivated.

Mun, who lived in Malaysia for a decade and was arrested in May 2019, has denied US allegations that he was involved in supplying luxury goods from Singapore to North Korea in violation of United Nations sanctions. while working in Singapore.

He denied the laundering of funds through front companies and the issuance of fraudulent documents to support illicit shipments to his country.

North Korea has long used Malaysia as a crucial economic hub where it handled trade, labor exports, and some illicit businesses in Southeast Asia, but its relations suffered major setbacks from the assassination of Kim Jong Nam in 2017. .

Two women, one Indonesian and the other Vietnamese, were charged with collusion with four North Koreans to murder Kim Jong Nam by smearing a VX nerve agent on his face. The four North Koreans fled Malaysia the day Kim died. The two women were later released.

Malaysian officials never officially accused North Korea of ​​being involved in Kim Jong Nam’s death, but prosecutors made it clear throughout the trial that they suspected a connection to North Korea.

North Korea denied that the victim was Kim Jong Nam and disputed that he played a role in the man’s death. North Korean observers have long believed that Kim Jong Un ordered his brother’s assassination as part of efforts to eliminate potential rivals and consolidate his grip on power.