Relationship dossier
Malaysia
North Korea
Relationship assessment
Longstanding ties ended in a diplomatic rupture after years of escalating disputes
Malaysia toward North Korea
-35Malaysia maintained diplomatic and travel links with North Korea, but relations deteriorated after Kim Jong-nam was killed in Kuala Lumpur in 2017. Malaysia extradited North Korean citizen Mun Chol Myong to the United States in 2021 and severed diplomatic ties with North Korea that March.
North Korea toward Malaysia
-65North Korea maintained diplomatic and travel links with Malaysia, but the 2017 killing of Kim Jong-nam at Kuala Lumpur International Airport severely strained relations. In 2021, North Korea barred Malaysian citizens from leaving the country and severed diplomatic ties with Malaysia.
Overall relationship
-45The relationship combined longstanding diplomatic and travel links with a major breakdown following the 2017 killing of Kim Jong-nam in Malaysia. The dispute over Malaysia's extradition of Mun Chol Myong and North Korea's travel ban on Malaysians culminated in the severing of diplomatic ties in 2021.
How to read these scores
Scores are rough judgments, not objective measurements or current verification. Directional scores describe government policy and conduct, not public opinion. The overall score is an independent estimate, never an average.
- −100
- Extreme sustained hostility
- −50
- Substantially adversarial
- 0
- Mixed or neutral, supported by knowledge
- +50
- Substantially cooperative
- +100
- Exceptionally close sustained partnership
“Not assessed” means there is no recorded score. Pair existence makes no claim about diplomatic recognition or established relations.
Relationship context
Overview
Malaysia and North Korea maintained diplomatic and travel links for decades, but relations deteriorated sharply after the 2017 killing of Kim Jong-nam at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Malaysia later extradited North Korean citizen Mun Chol Myong to the United States, and North Korea barred Malaysians from leaving the country. The two governments severed diplomatic ties in March 2021.
Areas of tension
- The killing of Kim Jong-nam at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in 2017.
- Malaysia's extradition of North Korean citizen Mun Chol Myong to the United States.
- North Korea's 2021 ban preventing Malaysians from leaving the country.
- The severing of diplomatic ties in 2021.
Key developments
Kim Jong-nam was killed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, causing a major deterioration in Malaysia–North Korea relations.
Malaysia and North Korea severed diplomatic ties after a dispute involving Malaysia's extradition of Mun Chol Myong and North Korea's ban on Malaysians leaving the country.
Major uncertainties
- The full extent of earlier bilateral cooperation beyond diplomatic and travel arrangements is unclear.
- The longer-term effects of the 2021 diplomatic rupture on practical bilateral contacts are unclear.