Nine Malaysian citizens barred from leaving North Korea after the killing of Kim Jong Nam have finally been allowed to return home, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced Thursday.
The body of the slain half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will be allowed to return to North Korea after Malaysia received a letter from his family requesting his repatriation, Razak said in a statement.
Kim Jong Nam was killed with a highly toxic nerve agent on February 13 while waiting for a flight from Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur airport to the Chinese territory of Macau.
“I am pleased to announce that the nine Malaysians who had been barred from leaving North Korea have now been allowed to return to Malaysia. … They took off from Pyongyang today at 7.45 p.m. Malaysian time, and will land in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow around 5 a.m.,” the statement said, adding that Malaysia will now allow North Koreans to leave Malaysia.
Four Malaysian diplomats and their family members had been stuck in North Korea since earlier this month, when both countries announced a freeze on departures amid a diplomatic row.
Relations soured after Malaysian investigators refused to return Kim’s body to North Korea, and instead conducted an autopsy that revealed Kim had been murdered.
Two women face murder charges
Two women face murder charges for allegedly wiping Kim’s face with VX nerve agent, which caused his death within 20 minutes.
Siti Aisyah, an Indonesian national, and Doan Thi Huong, of Vietnam, were caught on closed-circuit security cameras rubbing a substance on Kim’s face before running away.
Both women say they believed they were taking part in a prank TV show, a claim vehemently denied by Malaysian police.
Malaysian police have named four additional North Koreans they consider suspects in the killing, as well as three others wanted for questioning.
North Korea has denied any involvement in his death.
If found guilty, the two women face a mandatory death sentence, which in Malaysia is carried out by hanging.
Diplomatic crisis
Malaysia and North Korea’s previously cordial ties quickly fell apart following Kim’s public killing.
North Korean authorities were quick to attack the Malaysian investigation, with their ambassador Kang Chol accusing the country of being “in collusion with South Korea” and ignoring their requests for an immediate release of the body.
Razak, the Malaysian Prime Minister, described the ambassador’s statement as “totally uncalled for.”
“It is incumbent upon us to find out the truth about the crime and they should help us … That is more important than making sweeping and baseless statements,” he said.
Soon, both countries had expelled the others’ ambassadors. Then on March 7, four of Malaysia’s diplomats and their families were barred from leaving North Korea.
In response, Malaysian leaders banned North Koreans from leaving their country, leading to a three-week diplomatic standoff.