Zahid: Foreign Ministry doing all it can to bring countrymen home

TAWAU: The Malaysian Foreign Ministry is sparing no effort to ensure that the nine Malaysian citizens still in Pyongyang, North Korea return home.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said, at the same time, Malaysia wants to maintain diplomatic ties with North Korea as long as there is no breach to the Vienna Convention to be interpreted.

He added that North Korea’s citizens in Malaysia will be allowed to return to their country when the time comes if North Korea also does the same. Zahid noted that one of the lingering issues for North Korea is the matter of Kim Jong- nam’s remains, which can only be handed over to the deceased’s next- of- kin upon request.

However, he said he does not see any prolonged problem between North Korea and Malaysia if an agreement could be reached without the need for a third country to resolve it.

According to the Immigration Department’s record from 2014 to 2017, there are 2,453 North Korean citizens who are participants in Malaysia as part of My

Furthermore, 801 North Koreans have been given temporary working visas and about 180 of them work as miners in Sarawak, he disclosed, adding that records showed there are only 312 North Koreans in Malaysia as the others have returned to their country.

Meanwhile, Zahid, who was in Tawau yesterday to officiate the Karnival Jalanan Kasih 2017 organised by the Kalabakan’s Umno Training and Research Bureau Parliament at Tawau Municipal Field, called on the people to maintain good relations with the federal government as it benefits Sabah.

“There shouldbe good chemistry and collaboration between Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia to ensure stable politics,” he said when addressing about 3,000 RELA members and 3,000 youths at the programme.