No North Korean arrival in Malaysia since visa requirement

PETALING JAYA — No North Korean has entered Malaysia since the visa requirement was imposed a fortnight ago, the Immigration Department said.

Its deputy director-general (Control) Ibrahim Abdullah told Malay Mail that following the change in the visa policy, the department had not recorded any North Korean visitors entering the country.

Before the ruling came into effect, visitors from the hermit nation only required a valid passport to enter Malaysia.

Diplomatic tensions between the two countries heightened following disputes over investigations into the death of Kim Jong-nam, who was assassinated with the lethal VX nerve agent at KLIA2 on February 13.

A report by the Asian Correspondent news portal on Tuesday (March 21) had claimed North Korean agents were in the country to conduct their own investigations into Jong-nam’s death.

The portal claimed the agents began investigating on their own after local police rejected their request for a joint probe into the assassination.

Quoting an anonymous beauty salon proprietor based in Kuala Lumpur, these agents were said to have gone to several businesses located in the city, believed to be linked to one of the suspects, 25-year-old Indonesian Siti Aisyah.

“They (the agents) have been going from shop to shop, asking about Siti’s friends… They said they were from Pyongyang and investigating a political plot,” the salon proprietor was quoted as saying.

Siti Aishah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, 28, are believed to have smeared Jong-nam’s face with the poison. They have both been charged with his murder.

Last month, a Reuters report said North Korean intelligence agents ran an arms operation out of Malaysia called Glocom located in the capital’s Little India.

The report claimed the agents used two front companies, identified as International Global System and International Golden Services, to mask their dealings.

In response, Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said on Monday local authorities intercepted and returned a shipment of North Korean military communications equipment sent to Thailand in 2011.

He said authorities at Port Klang seized 250kg of the equipment, manufactured by Glocom.

Mr Khalid said the shipment’s intended recipient, however, could not be traced and the shipment was returned to Pyongyang. MALAY MAIL ONLINE