Anifah has to review ties with North Korea now

Now North Korea is blaming Malaysia for the death of Kim Jong-nam.

Put in another way, it is crazy to even suggest that Malaysia is now responsible for the death of the late Kim.

This is what makes my blood boil, being a citizen of this country, where the assassination of the half-brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un was carried out, yet unashamedly, North Korea is blaming us for the assassination.

Based on the press conference by inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar yesterday, the names of the suspects have already been identified.

Instead of helping the police in their investigation, in order to get to the root of the murder case involving a citizen of the country he represents, the North Korean ambassador, Kang Chol, is kicking up a storm.

Kang has forgotten that since Jong-nam was assassinated on Feb 13, a lot of our investigators’ time has been spent on this case. Kang should be more grateful and polite as a diplomatic person, in order for people to respect North Korea, especially since Malaysia is supposed to be a friendly nation.

Annoying

What I particularly find annoying is when Kang started lecturing his host country for abusing human rights, when North Korea is known for its poor human rights record.

In the first place, how did Kang know that the police had pointed a gun at the family members of the North Korean suspect? It was all hearsay.

If the family had been threatened, they should lodge a police report. Kang should show us the police report before he tried to divert attention from the assassination or ridicule the police by suggesting that if the two ladies are still alive, then no poison was being used by them in the prank.

Kang had never explained why two ladies (one from Vietnam and the other from Indonesia) had wanted to play a prank on Kang. Did they even know each other? Who was really the mastermind (or the go-between) the ladies of two different nationalities?

Besides, if a poison was being used, there are some that would not kill a person unless it is inhaled or ingested. Why did Kang not know this at all? It is common sense.

Kang’s arguments all this while have not been cohesive either. It is obvious to me that when someone is trying to deflect the blame on others, there must be some degree of truth in what has been said about the assassination, especially when other family members had also been assassinated.

When the then-president of the United States, George W Bush, used the term ‘axis of evil’ to describe North Korea on Jan 29, 2002, he was referring to the country as being among a few countries that are accused of sponsoring terrorism or seeking weapons of mass destruction.

If this had tarnished North Korean’s reputation, what Kang had done drives home the point further that North Korea is unable to live peaceably with or respect other nations.

Currently, if four North Korean suspects had fled to Pyongyang, the North Korean police should immediately look for these four suspects, arrest and hand them over to the Malaysian police for further investigation. Has Kang Chol even offered such cooperation from his side?

FAM’s trip to North Korea

In my opinion, the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) should not make a trip to North Korea at this point in time. In fact, I agree with Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng that not only should the Foreign Minister, Anifah Aman, issue a travel warning to Malaysians visiting North Korea, Anifah should also review Malaysia’s diplomatic relations with North Korea.

The safety of Malaysian citizens including the footballers should be the top priority at this point in time; therefore, Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin’s response to the current situation should be reviewed to ensure the safety of our footballers.

With this assassination happening right at the KLIA 2, and the disparaging remarks and insults hurled at the Malaysian police and investigators by North Korea’s ambassador, it clearly shows that North Korea is not a country where you can continue to maintain good diplomatic relations.

Kang should not only be hauled up by Wisma Putra; he should also be sent home to his country and the embassy shut down. To me, North Korea is a failed nation, with leaders who do not know how to co-exist with others. Their ambassador reflects this unbecoming behaviour typical of the North Korean government.

He may accuse even me of being a paid CIA agent (or whatever label he puts on people like me who are slightly more vocal), but I am sure after Malaysia takes this firm action to terminate diplomatic ties with North Korea, a number of countries will follow suit.

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STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.- Mkini