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Malaysian Ambassador to North Korea Mohammad Nizan Bin Mohammad responds to reporters’ questions as he arrives at Beijing International Airport after being recalled to Kuala Lumpur to express discontent with North Korea’s criticism of the investigation into Kim Jong-nam’s death

The killing of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s half-brother Jong-nam is expected to have ramifications for Pyongyang‘s relations with Southeast Asian countries.

Relations between North Korea and Malaysia have significantly soured since Malaysian police identified many of the major suspects in the killing as having North Korean citizenship, prompting vocal objections from the North. If the involvement of Indonesian and Vietnamese women in the crime is also found to be the result of North Korean operations, the result is almost certain to result in substantial constraints on relations with those countries and North Korean activities in Southeast Asia.

Malaysian police said on Feb. 22 that they are seeking a senior diplomat from the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur in connection with Kim’s killing, as well as a suspect linked to North Korea’s Koryo Airlines.

Malaysia has the friendliest relationship with North Korea of any Southeast Asian country and is the only country in the world with a visa waiver agreement with the North. The two sides also have considerable economic interchange, with Malaysia exporting palm oil and other products to North Korea and North Korea dispatching workers to Malaysia.

But North Korean ambassador Kang Chol’s repudiation of the Malaysian police’s investigation into Kim’s assassination and claims that the Malaysian government was “trying to trick us” prompted Kuala Lumpur to recall its ambassador from Pyongyang. On Feb. 21, Prime Minister Najib Razak called Kang‘s comments “diplomatically rude.”

A Feb. 21 opinion piece in Malaysia’s local New Straits Times newspaper said called on Malaysia to “respect Malaysia’s sovereignty and law,” contending that “Pyongyang is taking such an illogical stance by denying Malaysia its right to conduct a fair and just investigation.” An editorial the same day in the Thai daily Bangkok Post said, “Once again North Korean agents have triggered tension and anger in Southeast Asia.” It also blasted Pyongyang for “once again leaving countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to clean up the dirty, bloody and uncivilised work of the third generation of Kim murderers.”

Britain’s Financial Times reported on Feb. 20 that North Korea had “turned to Southeast Asia in search of ways to evade international sanctions” resulting from its nuclear weapons program. Last year, the Singaporean company Chinpo Shipping was fined S$180,000 (around 150 million won) by a Singapore court on charges of transporting items that could be used for North Korea’s weapons program.

The Cambodian government assigned construction duties for Angkor Panorama, a museum adjacent to Angkor Wat, to the North Korean artists’ group Mansudae Art Studio. Former Cambodian King Sihanouk was close with North Korean leader Kim Il-sung and hired North Korean bodyguards at one time.

By Cho Ki-weon, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]