North Koreans not allowed to leave Malaysia - DPM Zahid

Malaysia will not allow North Korean citizens to leave the country with immediate effect, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said on Tuesday.

It is a tit-for-tat response as a row escalated over the Malaysian investigation of North Korean national Kim Jong Nam's murder.

"The decision is effective immediately to all Immigration Department exit points throughout the country," he told a press conference at the Parliament building today.

"We do not wish to retaliate but this needs to be done when a country with diplomatic relations with Malaysia acted beyond the diplomatic etiquette and convention.

"And Malaysia had to take the same action as they had manipulated the so-called murder case committed in Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (klia2)," he added, referring to Jong Nam who died on the way to the hospital from klia2 on February 13.

Earlier today, North Korea said it has temporarily banned Malaysians from leaving the country to ensure the safety of its diplomats and citizens in Malaysia.

Malaysia has been outraged by the murder of Jong Nam, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's estranged half brother, at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Feb 13, by assassins using VX nerve agent, a super toxic chemical listed by the United Nations as a weapon of mass destruction.