Malaysia's National Security Council To Hold Emergency Meeting This Afternoon To Discuss North Korea

By Mohd Faizal Hassan KUALA LUMPUR, March 7 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's National Security Council(NSC) will be holding an emergency meeting this afternoon on North Korea's move to prevent Malaysians from leaving that country. Sources told Bernama that the closed-door meeting would be chaired by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak at the Royal Malaysian Air Force base in Subang at 6pm as soon as he returns from attending the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Summit in Jakarta. The meeting is expected to be attended by Deputy Prime Minister Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, senior officials from the police, immigration and agencies related to enforcement of laws and national security. Najib in a statement earlier Tuesday had instructed the NSC to call the meeting. The Prime Minister had also ordered Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar to prevent all North Korean citizens currently in Malaysia from leaving the country. Prior to this, Malaysia had taken the step to expel North Korea's Ambassador to Malaysia Kang Chol with the envoy leaving for home yesterday. The action was taken because Kang Chol had made wild and baseless accusations that Malaysia was colluding with foreign powers in the investigation of the murder of North Korean national Kim Chol, widely reported to be Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. It was reported that Kim Chol was waiting for his flight to Macau at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (klia2) on Feb 13 when two women suddenly wiped his face with a liquid which was later identified as the VX nerve agent. He reportedly sought help at a customer service counter at the airport and was rushed to Putrajaya Hospital but died on the way. He had used a passport bearing the name Kim Chol. On Saturday, Foreign Minister Anifah Aman had declared Kang Chol Persona Non Grata (PNG) and gave him 48 hours to leave Malaysia. The Malaysian goverment also imposed visa requirement for North Koreans wanting to come to Malaysia which took effect yesterday. In a tit-for-tat move, Pyongyang also declared Malaysia's Ambassador to North Korea Mohamad Nizan Mohamad as PNG and gave him 48 hours to leave the country. However, Mohamad Nizan had been recalled by the Malaysian government much earlier, following the murder of Kim Chol, for consultations. Pyongyang took the move to block Malaysians from leaving North Korea yesterday and Malaysia reciprocated in kind. -- BERNAMA