Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak called for
unity on Friday as he tried to bring home nine Malaysians stuck in North Korea
amid a growing row over the murder of Kim Jong Nam, warning Pyongyang not to
abuse Malaysia’s “hospitality”.
North Korea barred
Malaysians from leaving the country on Tuesday, sparking tit-for-tat action by
Malaysia as relations soured over its probe into the Feb. 13 murder of Kim, the
estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Kim Jong Nam was killed
at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
Malaysian police say he
was assaulted by two women who smeared his face with VX, a chemical classified
by the United Nations as a weapon of mass destruction.
In a blog posting,
Najib said Malaysia would fall back on its experience dealing with crises such
as the mysterious disappearance of Malaysia airlines flight MH370 where
multiple countries were involved in the search.
Flight MH370, carrying
239 people, went missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8,
2014. Australia, Malaysia, and China jointly called off a two-year underwater
search for the aircraft in January.
Najib said: “I want to
call on all Malaysians, including the leaders of the government and the
opposition, to unite in giving us full support toward all efforts that are
ongoing to resolve this problem.
“Malaysia always
ensures good relations with all countries.
“However, this does not
mean any one of them can abuse our good treatment that Malaysia has given all
this while and break the laws of our country, or do anything they like without
respecting Malaysia as a sovereign nation.”
Malaysian police have
identified eight North Koreans in connection with the case.
They say three are
still in Kuala Lumpur, hiding at the North Korean embassy.
Malaysia is one of the
few countries that has for decades maintained ties with the isolated North
Korea.
As relations plunged in
the wake of the murder, Malaysia recalled its envoy from Pyongyang and expelled
the North Korean ambassador.
On Thursday, Najib said
North Korea had guaranteed the safety of Malaysians banned from leaving the
country, as two Malaysian UN employees left the state in a possible sign that
diplomatic tensions had begun to settle.
Najib, who said any
negotiations with Pyongyang would be conducted behind closed doors, called for
nationwide prayers on Friday for the safety of the Malaysians barred from
leaving North Korea
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