North Korea says it will sever diplomatic relations with Malaysia for extraditing citizen to US
North Korean embassy counsellor Kim Yu-song, left, walks with Jagjit Singh, right, lawyer to Mun Chol-myong, the North Korean man facing extradition from Malaysia to the US on money-laundering, at the Session Court in Kuala Lumpur on December 13, 2019. AFP-Yonhap |
North Korea said Friday it will cut off diplomatic relations with Malaysia for extraditing one of its nationals to the United States to face money laundering charges and pinned Washington as the "backstage manipulator."
Mun Chol-myong, a North Korean businessmen living in Malaysia, was accused of supplying prohibited luxury items from Singapore to Pyongyang and laundering funds through shell companies in violation of U.N. sanctions. Last week, Malaysia's top court ruled that he can be extradited to Washington, rejecting his appeal challenging the extradition request from the U.S.
"On March 17, the Malaysian authority committed an unpardonable crime, in the end, of forcibly delivering the innocent citizen of the DPRK to the United States by having charged him with 'criminal,'" the North's foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"With regard to the grave situation that has prevailed, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the DPRK hereby announces total severance of the diplomatic relations with Malaysia which committed super-large hostile act against the DPRK in subservience to the U.S. pressure," it added.
North Korea claimed that the businessman was engaged in "legitimate external trade activities" and warned that the Malaysian authority will bear full responsibility for any consequences that result between the two countries.
It also warned that the U.S. will "pay a due price" as the "backstage manipulator and main culprit of this incident."
Kang Son-bi, left, wife of Mun Chol-myong, the North Korean man who faces possible extradition from Malaysia to the US on money-laundering charges arrives at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur on December 6, 2019. AFP-Yonhap |
In the statement, Pyongyang called its relations with Washington "the most hostile one on this planet," saying the two countries have been technically at war for over 70 years.
"Not content with putting our innocent citizen in the dock by blindly currying favor with the U.S. ― the principal enemy of our state ― the Malaysian authority delivered our citizen to the U.S. in the end, thus destroying the entire foundation of the bilateral relations based on the respect for sovereignty," it said.
The North then claimed that the principal officials of the Malaysian legal authorities were invited to a "drinking party" arranged by the U.S. ambassador in Malaysia shortly after the incident and was promised that they would receive huge gratuities and said there was even a "bargaining for free delivery of armaments."
"This world-startling incident is an out-and-out product of anti-DPRK conspiracy created from the heinous policy of hostility by the United States aimed at isolating and suffocating our country and the pro-U.S. subservience by the Malaysian authority," it said.
North Korea and Malaysia had maintained close relations since the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations in 1973, but ties were strained when North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, was poisoned to death at a Kuala Lumpur airport in 2017 in an assassination blamed on Pyongyang.
The two countries both expelled the ambassadors from their respective countries, while the Malaysian Embassy in Pyongyang was closed down following the incident.
In 2019, North Korea's No. 2 leader Choe Ryong-hae met with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and discussed ways to normalize relations in Azerbaijan but little progress was made amid the global outbreak of the coronavirus. (Yonhap)
(责任编辑:产品中心)
相关内容
- 16 of the Most Epic Sandwiches Around the Planet
- NK likely to restore guard posts at DMZ after ditching military agreement
- New iPads and MacBook Airs are coming this week, report claims
- Facebook and Instagram are down. Users aren't reacting well
- When will Trump and Harris debate? The presidential campaigns snipe over ABC News’ rules.
- 23 Peculiar Places of 2023
- OLED iPad Pro leak: Check out its new rumored design
- Stan Horaczek
- 与树为邻,与花为友!东莞大屏嶂森林公园等你来认种
- Our galaxy might crash into Andromeda. What would happen to Earth?
- 15 Places That Put the Dog Back in the 'Dog Days'
- Girona title bid further dented in Athletic defeat
- South Korea rebuts China's criticism of Summit for Democracy
推荐文章
-
Klarna CEO reveals plan to reduce workforce by 50% and replace it with AI
Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski is so bullish on AI that the Swedish buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) pla ...[详细] -
Spycam victim complains about court video screening
(Herald DB)A woman who fell victim to a sex video scandal involving soccer star Hwang Ui-jo complain ...[详细] -
Trump trials update: Donald Trump’s No Good, Very Bad Week
Keeping up with Trump’s court schedule is a dizzying task, since he faces two federal trials, a crim ...[详细] -
The stunning new planets discovered in deep space in 2022
It's been a landmark year for discovering new, fascinating worlds. In 2022, NASA surpassed 5,000 con ...[详细] -
Scientists detect water sloshing on Mars. There could be a lot.
A pioneering NASA robot detected over a thousand quakes on Mars. It also may have revealed a huge re ...[详细] -
20 Places to Visit Along West Virginia's Country Roads
There’s a reason that John Denver described West Virginia as “almost heaven.” Nest ...[详细] -
Testing Nvidia DLSS 3.5 Ray Reconstruction Using Cyberpunk 2.0
The next iteration of Nvidia's DLSS technology has landed and today we're checking out what DLSS 3.5 ...[详细] -
Trump trials update: Donald Trump’s No Good, Very Bad Week
Keeping up with Trump’s court schedule is a dizzying task, since he faces two federal trials, a crim ...[详细] -
Flying spaghetti monster and unworldly life filmed in deep sea footage
Scientists discovered a giant underwater mountain. And it's teeming with deep sea life.An endeavor a ...[详细] -
为了挽救一名陌生患者的生命,8月5日,天全县刘先生在成都成功捐献自己的造血干细胞,成为我市第11例、四川第521例、全国第13680例造血干细胞捐献者。“小儿子的病目前除干细胞移植外,没有其他根治方法 ...[详细]
热点阅读
随机内容
- If aliens harnessed solar power, could we detect them? NASA investigated.
- 20 Places to Visit Along West Virginia's Country Roads
- Rare traces of tooth decay and gum disease found in Bronze Age teeth
- 'Love Lies Bleeding's Rose Glass on the importance of mullets and bad teeth
- Sinner vs. Michelsen 2024 livestream: Watch US Open for free
- How the Israeli
- NASA Artemis spaceship snaps stunning view of moon orbiting Earth