{"id":2421,"date":"2017-03-04T12:17:56","date_gmt":"2017-03-04T20:17:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=2421"},"modified":"2017-03-04T12:18:13","modified_gmt":"2017-03-04T20:18:13","slug":"malaysia-expels-north-korean-ambassador-over-kim-jong-nam-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=2421","title":{"rendered":"Malaysia expels North Korean ambassador over Kim Jong Nam probe"},"content":{"rendered":"
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orth Korean Ri Jong Chol speaks in front of reporters at the North Korean Embassy in Beijing early Saturday, March 4, 2017. Malaysian authorities on Friday deported the only North Korean detained in the killing of the half brother of North Korea\u2019s leader after releasing him because of a lack of evidence to charge him. Naohiko Hatta\/Kyodo News via AP<\/span><\/div>\n

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia >> Malaysia said it expelled North Korea\u2019s ambassador on Saturday for refusing to apologize for his strong accusations over Malaysia\u2019s handling of the investigation into the killing of the North Korean leader\u2019s half brother.<\/p>\n

Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said a notice was sent to the North Korean Embassy at around 6 p.m. declaring Ambassador Kang Chol persona non grata. The notice said Kang must leave Malaysia within 48 hours.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the week, Malaysia demanded that North Korea formally apologize for Kang\u2019s accusations over the investigation into the Feb. 13 killing of Kim Jong Nam at Kuala Lumpur\u2019s airport, including that \u201cthe Malaysian government had something to hide and that Malaysia has colluded with outside powers to defame\u201d North Korea, Anifah said in a statement.<\/p>\n

He said that no apology had come and none appeared forthcoming, and that North Korean Embassy officials also failed to turn up for a meeting Saturday at the foreign ministry, so Malaysia decided to expel the ambassador.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt should be made clear \u2014 Malaysia will react strongly against any insults made against it or any attempt to tarnish its reputation,\u201d Anifah said.<\/p>\n

The death of Kim, the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has unleashed a diplomatic battle between Malaysia and North Korea. Authorities said Kim was killed within 20 minutes after two women smeared his face with VX, a banned nerve agent considered a weapon of mass destruction.<\/p>\n

Kang\u2019s expulsion came just days after Malaysia said it would scrap visa-free entry for North Koreans and expressed concern over the use of the nerve agent. Anifah had said this was an \u201cindication of the government\u2019s concern that Malaysia may have been used for illegal activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier Saturday, a North Korean chemist deported from Malaysia accused police of threatening to kill his family unless he confessed to killing Kim. Ri Jong Chol, who was released after police said there was insufficient evidence to charge him, spoke to reporters in Beijing while on his way to Pyongyang.<\/p>\n

Ri said that he wasn\u2019t at the airport the day Kim was killed, but that police accused him of being a mastermind and presented him with \u201cfake evidence.\u201d He said they showed him a picture of his wife and two children, who were staying with him in Kuala Lumpur, and threatened to kill them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese men kept telling me to admit to the crime, and if not, my whole family would be killed, and you too won\u2019t be safe. If you accept everything, you can live a good life in Malaysia,\u201d Ri said. \u201cThis is when I realized that it was a trap … they were plotting to tarnish my country\u2019s reputation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malaysia\u2019s national police chief, Khalid Abu Bakar, said he would hold a news conference on Tuesday to respond to Ri\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n

Ri was detained four days after Kim died, but police never said what they believed his role in the attack was. Two women \u2014 one Indonesian, one Vietnamese \u2014 have been charged with murder in the case, although both reportedly say they were duped into thinking they were playing a harmless prank.<\/p>\n

Malaysia is looking for seven other North Korean suspects, four of whom are believed to have left the country on the day of the killing. Three others, including an official at the North Korean Embassy and an employee of Air Koryo, North Korea\u2019s national carrier, are believed to still be in Malaysia.<\/p>\n

On Friday, police issued an arrest warrant for the Air Koryo employee, Kim Uk Il, but didn\u2019t say why he is a suspect. Police say he arrived in Malaysia on Jan. 29, about two weeks before Kim was killed.<\/p>\n

North Korea earlier had rejected Malaysia\u2019s autopsy finding that VX killed Kim. Ri Tong Il, a former North Korean deputy ambassador to the United Nations, said he probably died of a heart attack because he suffered from heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure.<\/p>\n

Malaysia\u2019s finding that VX killed Kim boosted speculation that North Korea orchestrated the attack. Experts say the oily poison was almost certainly produced in a sophisticated state weapons laboratory, and North Korea is widely believed to possess large quantities of chemical weapons, including VX.<\/p>\n

North Korea is trying to retrieve Kim\u2019s body, but has not acknowledged that the victim is Kim Jong Un\u2019s half brother, as Malaysian government officials have confirmed.<\/p>\n

Kim Jong Nam reportedly fell out of favor with his father, the late Kim Jong Il, in 2001, when he was caught trying to enter Japan on a false passport to visit Tokyo Disneyland.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

N orth Korean Ri Jong Chol...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2421"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2423,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2421\/revisions\/2423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}