Persona non grata Kang Chol still nowhere to be seen after 35 hours

More than 35 hours after Kang Chol was declared by Malaysia's Foreign Ministry as persona non grata, there is still no sight of the Ambassador of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea going in or coming out of the embassy premises in Bukit Damansara.

Local and international media who have gathered in front of the embassy since yesterday could not detect any movement in the embassy since midnight until 7am Monday.

Even more confusing, the press saw no light was turned on inside the premises.

In a statement on Saturday (March 4), Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman said the ambassador had been summoned to the Foreign Ministry for a meeting with a ministry official at 6pm but failed to be present.

Following that, the ministry, via a diplomatic note sent to the embassy, informed the North Korean government that Kang Chol had been declared persona non grata by the Malaysian government.

"He is expected to leave Malaysia within 48 hours from the scheduled time of the meeting, namely 6pm, March 4, 2017," Anifah said.

Kang Chol was involved in a diplomatic row with Malaysia over his comments on the Malaysian probe into the murder case of Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Jong Nam was at the KL International Airport 2 (klia2) on Feb 13 to board a flight to Macau when two women suddenly appeared before him and allegedly wiped his face with their hands laced with what was later identified as the VX nerve agent.

He was rushed to hospital, but died on the way.