Malaysia kicks out N.Korean ambassador for failing to appear before foreign ministry

Authorities in Malaysia have declared North Korea’s ambassador Kang Chol persona non grata after he failed to appear before Malaysia’s foreign ministry at 6pm local time on Saturday despite being summoned, over the death of Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of Kim Jong Un.

Chol has been given orders to leave the country within the next 48 hours, and his expulsion is coming weeks after the poisoning of Kim at the Kuala Lumpur airport on February 13 by two female agents.

Authorities were also expecting North Korea to issue an apology because of the accusations they were making against Malaysia. But that also didn’t happen, so they took this drastic measure, they said.

Read also: KIM JONG NAM: Freed suspect says Malaysia conspiring to tarnish N.Korea’s honour

The banning of the diplomat is coming after Ri Jong Chol, the only North Korean arrested in connection to Kim’s death was released and moments after he was let off the hook, he said he was a victim of a conspiracy by Malaysian authorities who he accused of using coercion to try to extract a confession from him, in comments to reporters outside the North Korean embassy in Beijing early on Saturday.

Ri who was released due to insufficient evidence to charge accused Malaysia of conspiring to tarnish the honour of Pyongyang.

He said that he was not at the airport on the day of the killing, and knew nothing about the accusation that his car was used in the case.

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