TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
North Korean diplomats expelled from Malaysia likely arrive in Beijing
The diplomats had been quarantined in Shanghai amid the novel coronavirus pandemic after arriving in China's largest commercial city on March 21.
Change Size
The North Korean flag flies above the North Korean embassy in Beijing on March 9, 2018. US President Donald Trump agreed to a historic first meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in a stunning development in America's high-stakes nuclear standoff with North Korea. (AFP/Greg Baker)
N
orth Korean diplomats, who had been expelled from Malaysia last month after Pyongyang announced it was cutting diplomatic ties with the Southeast Asian country, appear to have arrived in Beijing from Shanghai on Monday.
The diplomats had been quarantined in Shanghai amid the novel coronavirus pandemic after arriving in China's largest commercial city on March 21.
As North Korea has cut off traffic to and from China to prevent the virus from entering the nation, the diplomats are expected to stay in Beijing for the time being before returning to their home country.
On March 19, North Korea abruptly pledged to sever diplomatic relations with Malaysia over the extradition to the United States of one of its citizens, Mun Chol Myong, for alleged involvement in money laundering.
It was the first extradition to the United States of a North Korean suspected of engaging in Pyongyang's illicit activities.
The North Korean announcement was followed by Malaysia ordering North Korean diplomatic staff and their dependents to leave the nation within 48 hours.
Pyongyang and Kuala Lumpur had established diplomatic ties in 1973.
North Korea had apparently used Malaysia as a hub to raise money for leader Kim Jong Un and his government in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions, as its citizens had been allowed to enter the Southeast Asian nation without visa.
Before leaving the embassy in Kuala Lumpur, North Korean Charge d'Affaires Kim Yu Song read out a statement in which he slammed Malaysia for being "subservient" to the United States and laid all responsibility at the country's feet.
The Malaysian Foreign Ministry said Mun was only extradited after due legal process had been exhausted, adding the nation's expulsion of North Korean diplomats was in response to Pyongyang's "utterly irresponsible decision" to cut diplomatic relations.
In 2019, a Malaysian court ordered Mun to be extradited to the United States following his arrest earlier in the year. But he fought to remain in Malaysia, saying he had done nothing wrong. In March, he lost his final appeal to Malaysia's top court.
Mun is accused of purchasing luxury goods such as liquor and cigarettes with illicit funds and having them shipped to Pyongyang via China.
Ties between North Korea and Malaysia had already deteriorated since the murder of Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, at the airport in February 2017. The killing is believed to have been a crime orchestrated by Pyongyang.
Malaysia later expelled the North Korean ambassador from the country and effectively closed its own embassy in Pyongyang. Since then, the Southeast Asian nation has not dispatched any diplomats to the North Korean capital.
