No man is an island. So they say, but there is a hermit in East Asia that continues to build proverbial Island around itself. That island is none other than Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, better known as North Korea. And instead of making overtures to return to the international scene, the hermit nation had lost another friend, further cementing her place as the international pariah.
On 19th March 2021, North Korean government had denounced Malaysian Court decision to extradite Mr. Mun Chong Myong a North Korean national, to the United States of America on charges of conspiracy of laundering money and violating United Nation sanctions against the hermit nation. This was followed by Pyongyang’s decision to sever diplomatic relationship with Putrajaya, made on the same day.
Pyongyang’s declaration was followed through by Putrajaya, by denouncing the unilateral declaration by Pyongyang and instructed that all North Korean officials and their families to leave Malaysia within 48 hours, effectively making them persona non grata in Malaysia. This is the second time in recent years that Malaysian government had declared North Korean officials as persona non grata, the first being Mr. Kang Chol who was the North Korean Ambassador to Malaysia during the assassination of Mr. Kim Jong-Nam, the estranged brother of North Korean President Kim Jong-Un in 2017.
Impact to Malaysia
The decision would not negatively impact Malaysia. Although Malaysia had established diplomatic relationship with North Korea since 1973, Malaysia’s contribution to the relationship has not been reciprocated by North Korea in any way. Internationally, the relationship had helped to cement the view that Malaysia was shifting from pro-western position during Tunku Abdul Rahman’s premiership to that of non-aligned nations under Tun Abdul Razak’s premiership. Kuala Lumpur was also one of the few available locations for US officials to meet North Korean officials on neutral ground.
The severing of the relationship on the other hand would have more severe impact to North Korea than to Malaysia.
During the last diplomatic debacle, the safety of Malaysian Ambassador and employees in Pyongyang were used by Pyongyang to force Malaysian government to release Mr Kim Jong-nam’s remain to North Korea. While the relationship was ostensibly restored with an announcement in January 2020, Wisma Putra had not sent any diplomatic personnel to the hermit nation.
Malaysian banking sector for one, would sigh of relief as this decision relieve them a panacea that been a prick in their operations. The declaration would mean North Korean officials and nationals would need to exit Malaysia, thus entailing that North Koreans would be exiting banking relations with Malaysian banks. This would improve Malaysian banks’ compliance to international sanctions on North Korea.
The North Korean move would also mean that their attempts to use Malaysia to illegally export arms to Third World countries had failed. North Korea had previously set up several front companies in Malaysia and used them to circumvent sanction against the hermit nation. One company, Glocom was cited in a United Nations report in 2017 as a company set up by North Koreans linked to North Korean intelligence agency, Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB) as early as 2009 was involved in an attempt to export military radio equipment to Eritrea in July 2016. The company had even participated in at least three exhibitions in Defence Services Asia (DSA), held in Kuala Lumpur.
On cyber-war front, the move would probably impact North Korea’s cyber-warfare capability, as North Korean-linked Lazarus hacker group was believed to have operated from Malaysia. However, it is unknown if the group is still operating in Malaysia after the assassination of Kim Jong-Nam in Kuala Lumpur’s Low-Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT).
North Korean citizens were known to be employed in several sectors in Malaysia. One known sector is mining in the Eastern state of Sarawak where their existence revealed when a North Korean miner was killed in a mining accident in 2014. As of September 2017, Sarawak State Immigration Director had confirmed that all North Korean workers, including those who had overstayed their working permits in the state had since been repatriated back to North Korea.
While there may be a collective sigh of relief in Wisma Putra and the rest of Malaysian government with the exit of North Korea from Malaysia, Malaysian government should not let its guards down, considering the parting shots from the outgoing North Korean Charge D’affair, Mr. Kim Yu-song just before leaving for Kuala Lumpur International Airport, that there will be payback to Malaysia for this latest debacle involving the hermit nation.
One Response
Insightful! Thanks for this article.
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