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Reassessing North Korea's threat to ASEAN security
This escalation has certainly raised the question, how relevant is the threat from North Korea to ASEAN security?
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A journalist waits in front of the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Monday, March 6, 2017. Malaysia said Sunday that its expulsion of North Korea's ambassador was intended to warn Pyongyang that it cannot manipulate the investigation into the killing of the North Korean leader's half brother Kim Jong Nam. (AP/Alexandra Radu)
W
ithin the space of a month, two separate incidents perpetrated by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or North Korea, have alerted many nations within the Asia-Pacific region.
The assassination of Kim Jongnam, a half-brother of North Korea’s supreme leader, allegedly by Vietnamese and Indonesian nationals at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia, caused confusion and disbelief.
All throughout February, the Indonesian media was filled with the news about how Siti Aisyah, the alleged Indonesian citizens, was duped into assassinating Kim.
Added to that were the two missile launches conducted by North Korea in February and March, wherein the latest one saw four ballistic missiles being tested.
This escalation has certainly raised the question, how relevant is the threat from North Korea to ASEAN security?
The killing of Kim in February has certainly raised a lot of tension and caused a diplomatic row between Malaysia and North Korea.
The incident has led to Malaysia withdrawing its ambassador to North Korea and the expulsion of North Korea’s ambassador to Malaysia, as well as the cancellation of visa-free facilities for North Koreans entering Malaysia.
