It said it was announcing “total severance of diplomatic relations with Malaysia, which committed a super-large hostile act against [North Korea] in subservience to US pressure”. The ministry also said the US would “pay a due price”.

North Korean man challenges US bid to extradite him from Malaysia

Malaysia’s top court had earlier this month rejected an assertion by North Korean Mun Chol-myong that the US charge was politically motivated, ruling that he could be extradited.

Mun had lived in Malaysia for a decade and was arrested in May 2019 after US authorities requested his extradition. Malaysia’s government approved the request, but Mun challenged the bid.

In his affidavit, Mun denied accusations by the US that he was involved in supplying prohibited luxury goods from Singapore to North Korea in violation of UN sanctions while working in the city state before moving to Malaysia in 2008.

He denied that he had laundered funds through front companies and that he issued fraudulent documents to support illicit shipments to his country. He said in his affidavit that he was the victim of a “politically motivated” extradition request aimed at pressuring North Korea over its missile programme.

Blinken asks China to pressure North Korea into abandoning nuclear programme

“This is pretty bad news. It will seriously damage efforts to improve ties between the US and the North,” sad Professor Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, in reference to the US freeze of some US$25 million North Korean funds at Banco Delta Asia in 2005 and the sanctions of the Macau bank on grounds that it was allegedly used for money laundering for North Korea.

The North reacted angrily, boycotting US-led multilateral talks on the denuclearisation of the North and conducting its first nuclear test in October 2006, followed by a series of ballistic missile tests.

Following a year-long deadlock, the money was unblocked in 2007 after an agreement was reached on denuclearisation. But the deal consequently collapsed, with both the US and the North blaming each other.

“This extradition issue should have been dealt with by taking account of political reality rather than legal precision. It will now make it much more difficult for diplomacy to work,” Yang said.

North Korea and Malaysia established diplomatic ties in 1973, but have suffered major setbacks since the 2017 slaying of the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Malaysian officials have never officially accused North Korea of involvement in Kim’s death, but prosecutors made it clear throughout the trial they suspected a North Korean connection. North Korea has denied any involvement. The two women, who have said they thought they were taking part in a harmless prank for a TV show, were later released.

Accidental killer: the Indonesian accused of Kim assassination

Malaysia scrapped visa-free entry for North Koreans and expelled North Korean Ambassador Kang Chol after he rejected Malaysia’s investigation and insisted the victim was an ordinary citizen who died of a heart attack.

North Korea responded by banning Malaysians from leaving, entrapping three diplomats and six of their family members. The nine Malaysians were only allowed to fly back after Malaysia released Kim’s body to North Korea and allowed the North Koreans to leave, including an embassy official and a North Korean Air Koryo employee wanted by police for questioning over Kim’s death.

The reported extradition comes amid deadlocked nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang. Diplomatic efforts led by the US to persuade North Korea to abandon its advancing nuclear weapons programme have stalled for more than two years because of disputes over US-led sanctions on North Korea.

Additional reporting by Park Chan-kyong, Reuters