KUALA LUMPUR, March 7 – Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has given his assurance that the government will do its best to ensure the safety of Malaysians in North Korea. The Prime Minister said the Government’s main focus was to ensure that the Malaysian citizens who were in North Korea would return home safely.
“I understand the feelings and concerns of the families and acquaintances of the Malaysians held back in North Korea,” he said in a posting on his blog today. The Prime Minister, who returned from a working visit to Jakarta this afternoon, had earlier chaired an emergency meeting of the National Security Council (MKN) following Pyongyang’s action today in imposing a temporary ban on all Malaysian citizens leaving the country.
According to Najib, he was given a detailed briefing on the current situation during the meeting that lasted about 45 minutes. Among those present at the meeting were Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Minister of Communications and Multimedia Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak, Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Dr Ali Hamsa and Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar.
Also present were Malaysian Immigration Department director-general Datuk Mustafar Ali, MKN director-general Tan Sri Zulkifli Mohd Zin, Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali and Armed Forces chief General Tan Sri Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor.
According to Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican, 11 Malaysians, including two from the United Nations (UN) World Food Programme (WFP) are currently still in North Korea and that they are safe. The others consist of three officers and staff of the Malaysian Embassy and six members of their families. — Bernama
