North Koreans still in M'sia are under MM2H programme - IGP

KUALA LUMPUR: All North Koreans who are still in Malaysia are participants of the ‘Malaysia My Second Home’ (MM2H) programme, whose movements have been identified, says Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador.

He said the police would leave it up to the Immigration Department and the Home Ministry (KDN) to decide on whether these individuals should return to North Korea following Pyongyang's decision to end diplomatic relations with Kuala Lumpur.

"I assure you that the situation in the country is still under control," he told Bernama yesterday.

On Thursday, a ‘Daily NK’ report claimed that North Korea had not recalled hundreds of workers, including secret agents of the country's Munitions Industry Department (MID) involved in the smuggling of luxury goods and weapons.

The report also claimed that the MID was involved in arms smuggling activities and that they had made Malaysia a transit hub for smuggling North Korean weapons to Iran, Syria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as well as 'importing' arms from other countries to North Korea.

Earlier, Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the government had not received a report on allegations that North Korea still allowed their secret agents to use Malaysia as a transit point to purchase weapons and luxury goods.

On March 21, all diplomatic staff at the North Korean Embassy and their dependents in Malaysia returned to their country following Pyongyang's decision to end diplomatic relations with Kuala Lumpur on March 19.

Pyongyang announced it was severing ties with Malaysia after a court here ruled that a North Korean businessman could be extradited to the United States to face money laundering charges there.

Malaysia and North Korea established diplomatic relations in 1973, and achieved various diplomatic and trade achievements until 2017, when Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was assassinated in Malaysia.

-- BERNAMA