THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

Two N Korean suspects may be holed up in embassy in KL 

Two N Korean suspects may be holed up in embassy in KL 

Ambassador told to leave Malaysia by 6pm today after airport killing, attacks on murder probe 

Malaysia has expelled North Korea’s ambassador, giving him 48 hours to leave the country in a major break in diplomatic relations over the airport assassination of the half-brother of Pyongyang’s leader.
Kim Jong-Nam was poisoned February 13 with deadly nerve agent VX. North Korea has not acknowledged the dead man’s identity but has repeatedly disparaged the murder investigation and accused Malaysia of conniving with its enemies.
Meanwhile, there has been intense media speculation that two of the suspects may be hiding inside the embassy. 
On Friday police issued an arrest warrant for one of the men believed holed up in the embassy, a North Korean airline employee. They also requested that the other, the second secretary at the mission, assist the probe.
“They [the suspects] could be in the North Korean embassy as it is the safest place against questioning or possible arrest,” a senior government official, who did not want to be named, told AFP.
The embassy, a two-storey neo-colonial house with a North Korean flag fluttering defiantly, is situated in Kuala Lumpur’s well-heeled Bukit Damansara area known for its hipster cafes and restaurants.
For three weeks international media have been camped outside, awaiting the next doorstep statement and watching the comings and goings of black embassy cars and deliveries of ginseng chicken soup.
“This is extremely rare for a North Korean embassy to be in the spotlight because Pyongyang is usually low-profile,” said Dr Roy Rogers, from the Department of International and Strategic Studies at the University of Malaya. 
Pyongyang’s envoys have blasted Malaysia’s investigation as biased and demanded Jong-nam’s body be returned. 
“The ambassador has been declared persona non grata” after Malaysia demanded but did not receive an apology for Pyongyang’s attacks on the investigation, Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Anifah Haji Aman said late on Saturday.
“Malaysia will react strongly against any insults made against it or any attempt to tarnish its reputation,” he said in a statement.
Ambassador Kang Chol failed to present himself at the ministry when summoned and “is expected to leave Malaysia within 48 hours”, the statement added.
Yesterday media besieged the embassy, from where Kang is expected to depart before the expulsion deadline – 6pm on Monday.
Arch-rival South Korea has blamed the North for the murder, citing what they say was a standing order from leader Kim Jong-Un to kill his exiled half-brother who may have been seen as a potential rival.

‘North Korea must learn to respect’
The foreign ministry said the expulsion is “part of the process by the Malaysian government to review its relations” with North Korea, which before Kim’s assassination were unusually cosy.
“North Korea must learn to respect other countries,” Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said yesterday.
The expulsion shows “we are serious about solving this problem and we do not want it to be manipulated”, he added.
The diplomatic spat erupted last month when police rejected North Korean diplomats’ demands to hand over Kim’s body.
Kang then claimed the investigation was politically motivated and said Kuala Lumpur was conspiring with “hostile forces”.
Malaysia summoned Kang for a dressing-down, with Prime Minister Najib Razak saying the ambassador's statement was “diplomatically rude”.
Malaysia issued a February 28 deadline for an apology, but “no such apology has been made, neither has there been any indication that one is forthcoming”.
Malaysia has also recalled its envoy to Pyongyang and cancelled a rare visa-free travel deal with North Korea.
Police are seeking seven North Korean suspects in their probe but on Friday released the only North Korean held for lack of evidence. After Ri Jong-Chol was deported, he claimed police offered him a comfortable life in Malaysia for a false confession, saying the investigation was “a conspiracy to impair the dignity of the Republic (North Korea)”.
Two women – one Vietnamese and one Indonesian – have been charged with murdering Kim Jong-Nam, with airport CCTV footage showing them approaching the heavyset 45-year-old and apparently smearing his face with a cloth. Police say he suffered a seizure and died less than 20 minutes later. Swabs of the dead man’s face revealed traces of VX nerve agent.
North Korea had few friends even before the assassination, but the fallout from the killing looks set to further isolate the nuclear-armed state. Malaysia established diplomatic relations with North Korea in 1973 and opened an embassy in Pyongyang in 2003.
It has provided a conduit between Pyongyang and the wider world in recent years, with Kuala Lumpur serving as a discreet meeting place for talks between the regime and the United States.

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