Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak yesterday called for unity as he tried to return home nine Malaysians stuck in North Korea amid a growing row over the murder of Kim Jong-nam, while warning Pyongyang not to abuse Malaysia’s “hospitality.”
North Korea on Tuesday barred Malaysians from leaving the country, sparking a tit-for-tat response by Malaysia as relations soured over its probe into the Feb. 13 murder of Kim, the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Kim Jong-nam was killed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
Malaysian police said he was assaulted by two women who smeared his face with VX, a chemical agent classified by the UN as a weapon of mass destruction.
In a blog posting, Najib said Malaysia would fall back on its experience dealing with crises, such as the mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, in which multiple countries were involved in the search.
Flight MH370, carrying 239 people, went missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. Australia, Malaysia and China jointly called off a two-year underwater search for the aircraft in January.
“I want to call on all Malaysians, including the leaders of the government and the opposition, to unite in giving us full support towards all efforts that are ongoing to resolve this problem,” Najib said.
“Malaysia always ensures good relations with all countries. However, this does not mean any one of them can abuse our good treatment that Malaysia has given all this while and break the laws of our country, or do anything they like without respecting Malaysia as a sovereign nation,” he added.
Malaysian police have identified eight North Koreans in connection with the case.
They said three are still in Kuala Lumpur, hiding at the North Korean embassy.
Malaysia is one of the few countries that has for decades maintained ties with isolated North Korea. However, as relations plunged in the wake of the murder, Malaysia recalled its envoy from Pyongyang and expelled the North Korean ambassador.
On Thursday, Najib said North Korea had guaranteed the safety of Malaysians banned from leaving the country, as two Malaysian UN employees left the state in a possible sign that diplomatic tensions had begun to settle.
Najib, who said any negotiations with Pyongyang would be conducted behind closed doors, called for nationwide prayers for the safety of the Malaysians barred from leaving North Korea.
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