Malaysia to expel all North Korean diplomats in row

MALAYSIA HAS said it will order all North Korean diplomats to leave the country within 48 hours, in an escalation of diplomat brawl over Malaysia’s move to extradite a North Korean suspect to the United States for money laundering charges.

Malaysia’s announcement came hours after North Korea said it was terminating diplomatic ties with Malaysia because it committed a “super-large hostile act ... in subservience to the US pressure”.

North Korea called the money laundering charges an “absurd fabrication and (a) sheer plot” orchestrated by the

United States and warned Washington will “pay a due price”.

It is the latest development in growing animosity between Washington and Pyongyang, as the North ramps up pressure on the Biden administration over a nuclear stand-off.

Ties between North Korea and Malaysia have been virtually frozen since the killing in 2017 of the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Malaysia’s Foreign Ministry denounced North Korea’s move as “unfriendly and unconstructive”.

It said the government will order all diplomatic staff and their dependents at the North Korea

Embassy to leave Malaysia within 48 hours. It added that Malaysia was also compelled by North Korea’s decision to shut its own embassy in Pyongyang.

Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, inset, tweeted that all Malaysian diplomats in North Korea had returned after the embassy’s operations were suspended in 2017. The ministry said Malaysia had sought to strengthen ties with North Korea “even after the deplorable assassination of Kim Jong Nam in 2017” and that Pyongyang’s decision was “clearly unwarranted, disproportionate and certainly disruptive” for regional peace and stability. Malaysia’s Foreign Ministry website said the North Korean Embassy is led by Kim Yu Song, the charge d’affaires and councillor, and six other staff.

“Yes, we will be shutting down. We are now discussing the plans with our staff here and liaising with our government,” Mr Kim was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times.

North Korea has long used Malaysia as a crucial economic hub where it handled trade, labour exports and some illicit businesses in South-East Asia. Experts say North Korea is taking a tough stance over the extradition because it sees it as a pressure tactic against the North.