All Staff Including North Korean Embassy Employees in Malaysia Withdrawn Over the Weekend

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] On the afternoon of the 21st, more than 30 North Koreans, including staff and families of the North Korean embassy in Malaysia, all evacuated from Malaysia by boarding a passenger plane bound for Shanghai, China.

According to local Malaysian media and foreign news agencies, the North Korean embassy staff left the embassy by a large bus around 11 a.m. that day and proceeded with boarding procedures for the Shanghai-bound passenger plane at Kuala Lumpur Airport.

Bernama News Agency reported, "33 North Koreans, including several children, boarded Shanghai Airlines flight FM886," adding, "They went through the procedures without paying attention to the press." It also added, "Kim Yu-sung, the acting North Korean ambassador, and Song Ki-chul, the charg? d'affaires, helped the remaining returnees check in."

There is no direct passenger flight route between Malaysia and North Korea, and it was confirmed that flight FM886 took off from Kuala Lumpur to Shanghai at 4:56 p.m. that day. FM886 was the only passenger flight from Kuala Lumpur to mainland China on that day.

The returning group is presumed to include not only North Korean diplomatic personnel and their families but also some North Korean residents who had remained in Malaysia. Malaysia and North Korea canceled their visa exemption agreement after the 2017 'Kim Jong-nam assassination incident,' resulting in almost no new arrivals.

Before the bus departed for the airport that day, acting ambassador Kim Yu-sung came out of the North Korean embassy and issued a statement. Kim said, "The Malaysian government must bear the consequences of this situation," and criticized, "This incident is a product of an anti-North Korean conspiracy created by the United States' heinous policies."

He continued, "The Malaysian authorities blindly supported the United States," and raised his voice, saying, "By handing over our innocent citizens to the United States, Malaysia has completely destroyed the foundation of bilateral relations."

Malaysia and North Korea established diplomatic relations in 1973 and maintained friendly relations. However, after Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un, was assassinated with VX nerve agent at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on February 13, 2017, relations between the two countries rapidly deteriorated.

The two countries expelled each other's ambassadors, and North Korea detained all Malaysians in its territory as hostages, bringing relations to the brink of severance. Later, while the two countries refrained from sending ambassadors and remained distant, the Malaysian authorities arrested North Korean businessman Mun Cheol-myung, who lived in Kuala Lumpur, on charges including money laundering and UN sanctions violations, and handed him over to the United States. In response, North Korea abruptly declared the severance of diplomatic relations.

The Malaysian government also retaliated by ordering North Korean diplomatic staff and their families to leave within 48 hours and announced, "We will close the Malaysian embassy in Pyongyang, which has already been suspended since 2017 following the Kim Jong-nam assassination incident."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.