Support govt efforts to bring Malaysians home from North Korea - PM Najib

Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak today called on all Malaysians, including government and opposition leaders, to give full support to the efforts to bring Malaysian citizens home from North Korea.

The prime minister said the strength of a country could be measured by looking at the people's solidarity while facing a crisis or external threat.

"If we stay united when facing a problem or a threat, our foreign enemies will not be able to destroy all that we have built," he said in his latest blog entry at najibrazak.com.

Datuk Seri Najib said this was not the first time Malaysia faced a diplomatic spat and crises such as the disappearance of MH370, the downing of MH17 and the Lahad Datu intrusion, proved that Malaysia had extensive experience in handling complicated issues related to foreign powers.

"Insya-Allah, we will again be guided by The All-Mighty Allah to bring our fellow citizens home safely from North Korea and solve all the questions concerning the assassination (of the North Korean man) in our country," he said.

Datuk Seri Najib said Malaysia had always maintained a good relationship with other countries.

"However, this does not mean that anybody can exploit the Malaysian hospitality and break the laws in our country at their whims and fancy and in total disregard of Malaysia as a sovereign country," he said.

Nine Malaysians including three officers from the Malaysian Embassy in Pyongyang are currently stranded there after the North Korean government banned all Malaysian citizens from leaving the republic.

Two other Malaysians - Stella Lim and Nyanaprakash Muniandy - who participated in the World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations (UN) were allowed to leave Pyongyang and are currently safe in Beijing, China.

The diplomatic spat between Malaysia and North Korea began with the assassination of Kim Chol, or widely reported as Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the KL International Airport 2 (klia2) on Feb 13.

The ban preventing all Malaysian citizens from leaving the republic came about after Malaysia declared North Korean ambassador Kang Chol as persona non grata, leading to his expulsion from the country, following the ambassador's continued criticism of Malaysian authorities investigating the murder of Kim Jong-nam. -- BERNAMA