Expert: We can still talk, or China can help

PETALING JAYA: Analysts are optimistic that lines of communication between Malaysia and North Korea are still open despite the rising tension.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Institute of Malaysian and Inter­national Studies senior fellow and deputy director Assoc Prof Dr Sufian Jusoh said that since both countries still had diplomats in the other nation, there was still an avenue to communicate.

If things get worse, China could play the role of middleman in the diplomatic negotiations.

“There is still a communication channel (as) we still have diplomatic relations (with North Korea). We still have diplomats in our embassy there,” said Dr Sufian.

Malaysia, he said, could use diplomatic channels to ask Pyongyang to clarify the reason for the ban on Malaysians leaving North Korea.

“The Malaysians have done nothing wrong – apart from being Malaysians,” he said.

Dr Sufian expressed his belief that international sympathies were with Malaysia on this as it was seen as only responding to North Korea’s move.

The row with North Korea is Malaysia’s worst diplomatic spat with any country since 2008 when the Malaysian ambassador Saw Ching Hong was expelled from Serbia.

That was in retaliation to the Malaysian Government’s recognition of Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence earlier that year.

A foreign affairs expert described the current situation with North Korea as a “diplomatic war”.

“We are now dealing with a ‘mad man’ (Kim Jong-un), a man who has no regard for international law,” he said.

The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961) says that a country needs to allow diplomats to move freely within its borders, subject to its “laws and regulations”.

Under Article 29, “the person of a diplomatic agent shall be inviolable.”

“He shall not be liable to any form of arrest or detention,” adding that a country “shall treat him with due respect and shall take all appropriate steps to prevent any attack on his person, freedom or dignity.”