DPRK severs diplomatic ties with Malaysia
Action follows ruling in extradition case based on US ‘absurd fabrication’
PYONGYANG/SEOUL — The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on Friday cut diplomatic relations with Malaysia after the country’s top court allowed a DPRK citizen to be extradited to the United States to face money-laundering charges, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.
The announcement comes amid growing animosity between Washington and Pyongyang, and just days after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin visited the Republic of Korea on the second leg of an Asian tour aimed at bolstering a united front against the DPRK.
On Thursday, Pyongyang accused the new US administration of President Joe Biden of adopting a “lunatic theory”, ruling out any engagement with Washington unless it changed policy.
The DPRK Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday that the US’ money-laundering accusations against a DPRK national living in Malaysia are an “absurd fabrication and (a) sheer plot” orchestrated by “the principal enemy of our state”.
There was a heavy police presence outside the DPRK embassy in Kuala Lumpur on Friday as hordes of journalists arrived following the announcement.
Malaysian officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Shahriman Lockman, a foreign policy expert from the Institute of Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Kuala Lumpur, said: “They’ll probably view it as being part of Pyongyang’s diplomatic signaling to the US, as presaging a gradual rise in tensions between Pyongyang and Washington.”
The DPRK statement did not name the subject of the extradition case. But according to media outlets, Mun Chol-myong, a businessman living in Malaysia, was accused of supplying prohibited luxury items from Singapore to Pyongyang in violation of United Nations sanctions. Malaysia’s top court ruled that Mun, who is in his 50s, can be extradited to the US. In his affidavit, Mun denied the US accusations.
“With regard to the grave situation that has prevailed, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the DPRK hereby announces total severance of the diplomatic relations with Malaysia which committed (a) super-large hostile act against the DPRK in subservience to the US pressure,” the KCNA report said.
The report added that the businessman was engaged in “legitimate external trade activities” and warned that the Malaysian authorities would “bear full responsibility for all the consequences to be incurred between the two countries”.
The DPRK Foreign Ministry also warned that Washington will “pay a due price”.
Years of strain
Cutting diplomatic ties would require each country to formally shut down their embassies, withdraw diplomats and liquidate local property. But it’s unclear whether or when Pyongyang will pull its diplomats out of Malaysia.
Ties between Pyongyang and Kuala Lumpur have been virtually frozen since the 2017 slaying of a DPRK citizen at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
Severing diplomatic ties would be a significant measure. Malaysia has long been regarded as one of the DPRK’s crucial economic hubs, handling trade and labor exports in Southeast Asia.
Nam Sung-wook, a professor at the Republic of Korea’s Korea University, said: “Pyongyang is taking a hard line because it thinks it must not back down (over the extradition) as it’ll then have a war of nerves with the Biden administration in the next four years.”
Hong Min, a senior analyst at Seoul’s Korea Institute for National Unification, said that a threat to cut ties with Malaysia was one of the strongest options Pyongyang could take to express its anger with the Biden administration without jeopardizing an eventual return to stalled nuclear negotiations with Washington.