North Korea BANS Malaysians from leaving the country amid escalating row over Kim Jong-nam murder-Natalie EvansChris kitching

The move, to 'ensure the safety of its diplomats and citizens in Malaysia', comes days after it was claimed Kim Jong-nam died from a heart attack

North Korea has temporarily banned Malaysians from leaving the country amid an escalating row over the death of Kim Jong-un's half brother.
The secretive country claims the move is to ensure the safety of its diplomats and citizens in Malaysia.
The North's foreign ministry has notified the Malaysian embassy in Pyongyang of the reason for the measure.
It said it had hoped the case would be swiftly and fairly resolved in order to develop bilateral ties with Malaysia, the North's KCNA news agency reported.

Kim Jong-nam was attacked at an airport in Kuala Lumpur (Photo: Reuters)

The Korean ambassador to Malaysia Kang Chol (Photo: Rex Features)

The move comes days after bizarre claims that Kim Jong-nam was likely killed by a heart attack - even though an autopsy found he was assassinated with a highly-toxic nerve agent.
The 45-year-old died less than 20 minutes after he was poisoned with a high dose of VX nerve agent at Kuala Lumpur's international airport last month.
Malaysian officials says Kim Jong-nam was killed with the chemical, which has been classified by the UN as a weapon of mass destruction.
But North Korea claims that there are strong indications that a heart attack - not a nerve agent - was to blame for the death of the exiled playboy.

Suspect Siti Aisyah is from Indonesia (Photo: AFP)

Doan Thi Huong, a Vietnamese national, was also charged (Photo: REUTERS)

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Footage emerges 'of Kim Jong-nam airport assassination'

Intelligence officials from South Korea and the US claim Jong-nam was assassinated in a plot organised by North Korean agents, although the only suspects charged so far are a woman from Indonesia and a woman from Vietnam.

North Korea so far has not acknowledged that the man who died in the February 13 incident is Jong-nam.
After meeting with Malaysian cabinet ministers Ri Tong Il, North Korea's former deputy ambassador to the UN, questioned the use of VX and said samples should be sent to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for testing.
He added: "If it is true that it was used, then the samples should be sent to the office of OPCW.

Jong-nam is pictured shortly before his death

The 45-year-old was the estranged half-brother of Kim Jong-un (Photo: Getty)

"In case it is proved by the two separate international laboratories, with the same conclusion, then they should come to identify who is the one that made it. Who is the one that brought it into Malaysia?"
VX was first developed as a warfare agent in the UK in the 1950s, and has been banned under the UN Chemical Weapons Convention, to which North Korea is not a party.
One of the deadliest chemical weapons created by man, just 10 milligrams or a single drop is enough to kill a person in minutes.
After Jong-nam's death North Korea tried to persuade Malaysia not to perform an autopsy on his body.

The attack was captured by CCTV in the airport

Both suspects claim they thought they were carrying out a prank for TV

One of the suspected assassins was wearing an "LOL" shirt

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Malaysian authorities search Kuala Lumpur airport for toxins

Police have charged two women with Jong-nam's murder , claiming they smeared VX on his face as he prepared to fly out of the KLIA2 budget terminal to Macau, where he had been living with his family under Chinese protection.
The attack was captured by CCTV .
Doan Thi Huong, a Vietnamese national, and Siti Aishah, from Jakarta, Indonesia, wore bulletproof vests and were handcuffed as they were led into a court for their first appearance on Wednesday.
Mother-of-one Aishah, 25, and Huong, 28, were arrested days after the assassination.
Police believe the women smeared VX nerge agent, a chemical on a UN list of weapons of mass destruction, on Jong-nam's face.

Huong is led into court on Wednesday (Photo: AFP)

Aisyah (pictured) and Huong wore bulletproof vests to court (Photo: REUTERS)

Malaysian police release new CCTV of Kim Jong Nam murder suspects

They will be sentenced to death if they are convicted.
Both claim they were recruited and paid less than £100, believing they were carrying out a prank for a reality TV programme .
Malaysia has said it will deport Ri Jong Chol, a North Korean who was held in connection with the murder, as there was insufficient evidence to charge him.

Malaysia has said it will deport Ri Jong Chol after deciding not to charge him (Photo: AFP)

Malaysian authorities want to question seven other North Koreans, including a senior official at the embassy in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia has also announced that it would cancel visa-free entry for all North Koreans as diplomatic ties between the two countries worsened.
Jong-nam, the illegitimate playboy son of former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, had been targeted for assassination in the past.
He had received threats after he spoke out publicly against his family's control of North Korea, and he was living with his second wife in the Chinese territory of Macau under China's protection.

Culled from Mirror