North Korean Suspects Join Long Tradition of Holing Up in Embassies
Like Mr. Assange, Kim Uk-il, the North Korean airline employee, is vulnerable to arrest should he ever leave the embassy grounds — or, in his case, if relations sour to the point
that Malaysia and North Korea cut diplomatic ties and the embassy closes.
South Korea has blamed the North Korean government for Mr. Kim’s assassination,
and the Malaysian police have identified eight North Korean men, including Mr. Hyon, an embassy second secretary, and Kim Uk-il as participants in the plot.
Under the Vienna Convention, countries can declare a foreign diplomat "persona non grata." Malaysia is said to be considering
that designation for Mr. Hyon and his superior, Ambassador Kang Chol, who issued a strongly worded statement last week accusing Malaysia of colluding with South Korea in the Kim case.
He was eventually freed and left the country after the victims’ families were promised millions of dollars in "blood money." In Kuala Lumpur, the
Malaysian government, which declined to discuss the case, could face a protracted standoff with North Korea over the two suspects in the embassy.
Dennis Ignatius, a former Malaysian ambassador to several Western Hemisphere countries, called Malaysian officials "naïve
and gullible" in dealing with North Korea and questioned why the rogue state had ever been allowed to open its embassy in the first place.
The poisoning in the middle of Kuala Lumpur’s busy international airport has prompted some Malaysians to call for an examination of their country’s role in helping North Korea connect with the outside world —
and to question whether the North should be allowed to have an embassy in Malaysia.
One of the two men, Hyon Kwang-song, is a high-ranking embassy employee who claims diplomatic immunity and, as a result, is untouchable by the police.
