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The North Korean flag is seen behind razor wire on top of a wall at Pyongyang’s closed embassy in Kuala Lumpur. Photo: AP
AsiaSoutheast Asia

Malaysia’s Mahathir hints at a thaw in ties with North Korea

  • Relations between the two countries unravelled spectacularly following the assassination of Kim Jong-nam in Malaysia’s capital almost three years ago
  • The half-brother of North Korean Kim Jong-un was poisoned with a nerve agent while passing through Kuala Lumpur International Airport
Malaysia
SCMP’s Asia desk
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Malaysia plans to rekindle its once close ties with Pyongyang, which unravelled spectacularly following the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s half-brother in Kuala Lumpur almost three years ago.
“Now it is time to resume the normal relations between Malaysia and North Korea,” Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Tuesday in an interview with South Korea’s Yonhap. “We want to be friendly with all countries in the world … Even North Korea can provide some trade for us. We don’t like confrontation.”
The 94-year-old Malaysian leader arrived in the southern port city of Busan on Sunday to attend a summit between hosts South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Nothing to fear from China, says Malaysia’s Mahathir

He has stressed Malaysia’s diplomatic pragmatism and reiterated in the interview with Yonhap his willingness to reopen Malaysia’s embassy in Pyongyang, which was partially closed after the lethal poisoning of Kim Jong-nam in February 2017.

Mahathir said talk of the North Korean government being behind the assassination was only a “suspicion” and noted that the killing had not affected Malaysia’s security.

“We are meeting [North Korean officials], we are talking to them,” he was quoted as saying. “We will talk to them as to the appropriate time for us to open the embassy.”

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in Busan on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Later, speaking to Malaysian reporters, Mahathir said Asean leaders and South Korean President Moon Jae-in had discussed North Korea’s nuclear programme, with the 10-nation bloc unanimously agreeing the Korean peninsula should be free of nuclear weapons.

Still, he laid the blame on US President Donald Trump for the collapse in denuclearisation talks between Washington and Pyongyang, saying North Korea’s effort to reduce its nuclear activities “was not appreciated”.

How North Korea got away with murder in Malaysia

This year’s Hanoi summit between Trump and Kim – the second since their first meeting in Singapore last year – collapsed because of the US leader’s insistence on a “Libya model” of denuclearisation, whereby Pyongyang would hand over its nuclear weapons before receiving any sanctions relief. North Korea last week said it has no interest in restarting talks unless the US abandoned its “hostile policy”.

Kim Jong-un was asked to “practically demilitarise the whole country” before any easing of international sanctions, Mahathir said, suggesting sanctions relief should have been offered “a little bit” in return for Pyongyang scaling down parts of its weapons programme.

Kim Jong-nam pictured in Japan in 2001. Photo: AFP
Both the United States and South Korea have blamed Pyongyang for orchestrating the murder of Kim Jong-nam. The half-brother of Kim Jong-un died after two women, who said they had been tricked into believing they were part of a reality show, smeared his face with VX nerve agent at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
Siti Aisyah from Indonesia and Doan Thi Huong from Vietnam were arrested and charged with the murder, but both insisted they were only pawns in a plan hatched by North Korean agents who had since fled Malaysia. The two women were released earlier this year, ending legal proceeding stemming from the killing despite criticism that the real culprits never faced justice.
Soon after the death, North Korea’s ambassador to Malaysia questioned the credibility of the police investigation, prompting Malaysia to recall its ambassador to North Korea, ban its citizens from travelling to the North and cancel visa-free entry for North Koreans.
A view of North Korea’s embassy in Kuala Lumpur after it was sealed off in 2017. Photo: Reuters
North Korea retaliated with a travel ban on all Malaysians in Pyongyang, trapping three diplomats and six family members who were only able to fly out after Malaysia agreed to hand over Kim Jong-nam’s corpse and send three North Koreans wanted for questioning back to North Korea.

Malaysia’s embassy in Pyongyang has not been staffed since April 2017, and the government was considering permanently closing it and moving services to its Beijing mission.

Why do Singapore, Malaysia use kid gloves with nuclear-armed North Korea?

Diplomatic relations between Malaysia and North Korea’s totalitarian regime were first established in 1973 and greatly expanded during Mahathir’s first term in office, from 1981 to 2003.

Even as international sanctions tightened amid growing alarm at North Korea’s nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missile programmes, Malaysia remained relatively sanguine.
While neighbour Singapore ended its visa-free arrangement for North Koreans in 2016 after the latest round of United Nations sanctions, Malaysia maintained the deal.

In exchange, Malaysians were free to travel to North Korea without a visa – one of the few nations given that privilege by the reclusive communist dictatorship.

Mahathir last mentioned the Pyongyang embassy issue during a visit to Japan last year, when he told Nikkei Asian Review that it would be reopened.

Additional reporting by Reuters, Agence France-Presse

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Kuala Lumpur to rekindle Pyongyang diplomatic ties
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