Prime Minister Najib Razak spoke out on our country’s diplomatic relations with North Korea, saying that if the rogue state continued its military aggression, Malaysia may be forced to cut diplomatic ties, according to The Malay Mail.
The premier’s stance comes on the heels of his September trip to the United States, where he met with President Donald Trump. Najib added that the two had discussed the matter in lieu of the murder of the ruler’s half-brother Kim Jong-Nam.
The incident occurred on Malaysian soil, at KLIA2, while Jong-Nam was attempting to fly from Kuala Lumpur to Macau.
Malaysia intends to abide by all of the United Nations resolutions, according to Najib, and this includes reducing the number of North Korean diplomatic officers in Malaysia. He added that this could include cutting political and economic relations as well as closing down Malaysia’s Pyongyang embassy.
Previous arrangements that allowed visa-free travel between the two countries have been dissolved following the unprecedented airport assassination.
Regional stability has been thrown for a loop since Kim Jong-Un’s regime began pursuing military aggression, with veiled and direct threats to neighboring nations, as well as nuclear testing.
US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis at one point issued a warning to North Korea, asserting that a “massive military response” could be expected from the US should any nuclear weapons be used by the rogue nation ahead of the Trump’s visit to South Korea next month.
The move of icing out North Korea is a stark turn from the cozy diplomatic ties that North Korea and Malaysia once shared. In addition to visa-free travel between the two countries, their “special relationship” goes back to the days when North Korea trained local communists in guerrilla fighting. That continued through the establishment of economic ties in 1973 (well before official ties with China commenced in 1974), and well into the aughts, when Malaysia played third-party mediator during US, South Korea, and North Korea nuclear talks.
Prior to the assassination, Malaysia companies in Sarawak enjoyed cheap North Korean labor due to a labor arrangements made between the two nations.
Hey – HELP University even gave Kim Jong-Un an honorary PhD in 2013.
After Pyongyang’s most recent nuclear test over Japan, it seems like it’s nearing end of days for all those North Korean Embassy employees shopping at Ben’s Grocery right around the corner. Get all the brie, purple carrots, and Japanese whiskey while you can, kids.
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