M’sia to negotiate with N. Korea

Although there were offers from many countries to mediate, Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said, channels of communication between Malaysia and North Korea remained open and both countries would hold direct negotiations.

“We still have diplomatic ties with North Korea and we are constantly in touch with them through their embassy here in Kuala Lumpur,” he told a press confe­rence at the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations here yesterday.

Wisma Putra (Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs) was preparing the formal negotiations which, he said, would be held very soon.

Anifah said they were ready for the negotiations but needed to get some facts from other agencies including the police and the Ministry of Health.

“We need their input so whatever decisions and whatever is discussed, we understand fully what we can do, what we can’t do and what needs to be done,” he said.

He said both Malaysia and North Korea would discuss an appropriate location to hold direct negotiations.

Anifah said travel restrictions against North Koreans in Malaysia would continue as long as Malaysians there faced the same restrictions.

Earlier Anifah met family members of the nine Malaysians barred from leaving North Korea and assured them that everything was being done to bring them home.

He said North Korea had also assured the Malaysian Government that all Malaysians there were safe.

“Wisma Putra is in constant contact with them. I had a phone conversation with (Malaysia’s counsellor) Mohd Nor Azrin (Md Zain) just a moment ago,” he said.

He said all nine were in good health and high spirits.

“They are safe in the embassy compound and free to move about,” he said.

Other foreign missions in Pyongyang, he said, were providing support to the Malaysians.

The Organisation of the Islamic Countries’ Ambassadors there, he said, had also offered to bring in supplies from Beijing for the Malaysians.

Besides Mohd Nor Azrin, the other Malaysians in North Korea are his wife Iza Karmila Ramli, 33, and their children Annur Zulaikha, Aynur Zhafirah and Ayscha Zinnirah.

Also there are the Malaysian ambassador’s personal assistant Noor Saaidah Jamaludin, administrative assistant Nirmala Malar Kodi Singaram along with two others.

The diplomatic row between both countries escalated after the assassination of Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at KLIA2 on Feb 13.

Last Tuesday, North Korea barred all Malaysians from leaving the reclusive country and hours later, Malaysia announced a similar restriction, preventing all North Koreans from leaving the country.

Two other Malaysians who worked with the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) – Nyanaprakash Muniandy and Stella Lim – were allowed to leave for Beijing.