Assassination a warning to potential defectors, says South Korean expert

PETALING JAYA: The brazen assassination of Kim Jong-nam in Malaysia was a warning to North Korean elites thinking of defecting from the country via Malaysia, claims an academic.

"This shows to the elites that if they want to defect ... that North Korea maintains an intelligence presence in Malaysia. They are watching who's coming in and who's leaving the country," said Go Myong-hyun (pic), a research fellow from the Seoul-based Asan Institute for policy studies, in a discussion on Arirang TV, an international English-language South Korean network.