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Reuters

If hunger pangs hit in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, a ravenous resident could hail a taxi, head to a supermarket and stock up on Maggi noodles, Milo and Julie’s biscuits - all produced in Malaysia.
The snacks, and the North Korean taxi manufactured by the Southeast Asian nation’s carmaker Proton, exemplify the close relations - both legal and illegal - between the two nations over the years.
Those ties have unravelled spectacularly in barely three weeks after the lethal poisoning of Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un, with the highly toxic VX nerve agent in Kuala Lumpur airport.
Watch: Malaysia and North Korea send envoys packing


Angry exchanges over allegations North Korean agents orchestrated the murder and the expulsion of North Korea’s envoy in Kuala Lumpur escalated on Tuesday into a temporary ban on all Malaysians leaving North Korea. Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak has so far ruled out severing diplomatic ties with Pyongyang, but tensions between the two countries is high.
Among the 11 Malaysians in the country hit by the ban are three embassy officials and their six family members, a clear breach of the Vienna Convention that governs diplomacy, according to professor of international law at the Australian National University, Don Rothwell.
“I’m not aware of situations where other states have retaliated like North Korea has today,” said Rothwell.

Malaysia established diplomatic relations with North Korea’s totalitarian regime in 1973. Ties greatly expanded under former Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad.
North Korean assassination suspect says Malaysia hatched conspiracy to damage Pyongyang’s honour
“At that time the US and other Western nations were active in criticising him about human rights,” said Oh Ei Sun, a senior fellow at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.
“He tried to deflect that by presenting himself as champion of the Third World ... he didn’t care about the ideology of these countries. North Korea, Cuba, Libya - it didn’t matter.”

We are on the brink of a total break in diplomatic relations
Oh Ei Sun
Mahathir’s United Malays National Organisation (Umno), which still rules Malaysia, begun forging links with the Workers’ Party of Korea during the 1990s, said Mustapha Ya’akub, then a secretary in Umno’s youth wing.
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 last year after the latest, toughest round of United Nations sanctions, Malaysia maintained the deal.
In exchange, Malaysians were free to travel to North Korea without a visa, the only nation given that privilege by the reclusive communist dictatorship. That arrangement ended last week.

In recent years, North Koreans have worked in mines and construction projects and set up businesses in Malaysia. Scores of North Korean students attended Kuala Lumpur’s HELP University, which bestowed an honorary doctorate in economics on Kim Jong-un in 2013 for “untiring efforts for the education of the country and the well-being of its people.”
Little over three months ago, the chief executive of Malaysia’s External Trade Development Corporation, Dzulkifli Mahmud, boasted that North Korea was “now looking at using Malaysia as a gateway to Southeast Asian markets”.
That looks problematic now. Malaysia’s cabinet was set to discuss trade relations with the North on Friday in the wake of the deterioration in ties.

Two-way trade was a tiny $4 million in 2016, according to Malaysian figures. The data, however, likely masks the true figure. Much of the trade to North Korea goes through intermediaries in China, say experts.
And illicit business activities don’t register in the trade figures.
A US state department cable obtained by Wikileaks revealed two senior officials travelled to Kuala Lumpur in 2009 to warn its banks that sanctioned North Korean arms firms Tanchon and KOMID held accounts in Malaysia. Last week, Malaysia said it would investigate North Korea front companies after a Reuters report showed that North Korea’s spy agency was running an arms network in the country.
“I don’t think Malaysia went out of its way to help North Korea circumvent these sanctions,” said Oh. “Essentially we just gave them a lot of leeway doing business. Unless a western intelligence agency gave us a concrete list (of illicit companies in Malaysia), then we let them do business here.”
Now, says Oh, Malaysia’s approach to North Korea is not so laissez-faire.
“We are on the brink of a total break in diplomatic relations.”


Meet Kim Ju-ae, Kim Jong-un’s tween daughter and possible next leader of North Korea

Vietnam’s leader heads to North Korea for first visit in 18 years to rebalance relations

Secret Japanese past of Kim Jong-un’s mother threatens North Korea’s propaganda legacy

What can South Korea learn from Israel-Iran war to stop the North’s missiles?

Kim Jong-nam

Malaysia and North Korea spent years building ties. One murder unravelled them

A North Korean flag flies at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur. Ties between North Korea and Malaysia have unravelled spectacularly in barely three weeks after the lethal poisoning of Kim Jong-nam, with the highly toxic VX nerve agent. Photo: EPA

Photographers take pictures outside North Korean Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Wednesday, March 8, 2017. North Korea closed its borders Tuesday to Malaysians who want to leave the country, spurring Malaysia to issue a retaliatory order and drawing hundreds of ordinary people into an increasingly bitter diplomatic battle over the killing of an exiled member of North Korea's ruling family. (AP Photo/Daniel Chan)

epa05834438 Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak (L) and Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (R) leave the Royal Malaysia Force base after a National Security Council emergency meeting in Subang, Malaysia, 07 March 2017. A statement from Najib Razak on 07 March called for North Korea to release all Malaysian citizens immediately from the country to avoid any further escalation of the diplomatic row between the two countries. EPA/FAZRY ISMAIL

In a photo taken on February 18, 2017 a group of men stand at a newspaper stand in Pyongyang. / AFP PHOTO / Ed JONES

This picture taken on February 22, 2017 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on February 23 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (C) visiting the People's Theatre to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the State Merited Chorus in Pyongyang. / AFP PHOTO / KCNA VIA KNS / STR / South Korea OUT / REPUBLIC OF KOREA OUT ---EDITORS NOTE--- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO/KCNA VIA KNS" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS THIS PICTURE WAS MADE AVAILABLE BY A THIRD PARTY. AFP CAN NOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, LOCATION, DATE AND CONTENT OF THIS IMAGE. THIS PHOTO IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY AFP. /

Malaysian PM Najib says no plans to cut diplomatic ties with North Korea

The North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur has been sealed off. Photo: Reuters

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak arrives at the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia March 7, 2017 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. Antara Foto/Rosa Panggabean/via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. MANDATORY CREDIT. INDONESIA OUT.

‘My name is Kim Han-sol’:video of man claiming to be Kim Jong-nam’s son posted online

A video has emerged online of a man claiming to be the son of Kim Jong-nam, who was killed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport last month. Photo: YouTube

Kim Jong Nam, the older half brother of the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, is seen in this handout picture taken on June 4, 2010, provided by Joongang Ilbo and released by News1 on February 14, 2017. Joongang Ilbo/News1 via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. SOUTH KOREA OUT. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVE. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

A video has emerged online of a man claiming to be the son of Kim Jong-nam, who was killed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport last month.

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