As North Korea plots revenge over ‘spy’ extradited to US from Malaysia, assassinations and abductions may be next

Pyongyang fears Malaysia’s extradition of Mun Chol-myong – said to be linked to the shadowy Office 39 – could give its arch enemy America a major intelligence coup

Malaysia – mindful of the killing of Kim Jong-un’s half-brother on its soil four years ago – has raised security measures at sensitive locations

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Photo: DPA

Published: 7:00pm, 25 Mar 2021Updated: 10:40pm, 26 Mar 2021

When a North Korean businessman was extradited from Kuala Lumpur to the United States last week to face money laundering charges, the hermit kingdom was outraged. It responded by cutting off diplomatic ties with Malaysia while warning it would “have to bear full responsibility” and that consequences would “be incurred”.

Pyongyang’s fury is in part explained by the fact the businessman, Mun Chol-myong, 55, is the first North Korean to be extradited to the US, potentially paving the way for more such actions. Alan Kohler, assistant director of the FBI’s counter-intelligence division, has already said he hopes Mun’s extradition will be “the first of many”.

But another element of its anger, according to analysts, is that Mun is a suspected spy and Pyongyang is worried over what intelligence its arch enemy America may be able to glean from him. So great is the fall out, they say, that the possibility of Pyongyang’s retribution taking the form of assassinations – possibly even of innocent civilians – cannot be ruled out. Their warnings came as South Korea’s military said on Thursday it believed the North had fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan, or East Sea, in what appeared to be the country’s first ballistic missile test during the administration of US President Joe Biden.

“I am sure the [North Korean] regime fears that he will be of great intelligence value to the US if he confesses and provides information as part of a possible plea deal,” David Maxwell, senior fellow of the Foundation For Defence of Democracies and a retired Special Forces Colonel, told This Week In Asia.

Maxwell said the US hoped “to gain information about the regime’s illicit activities network” with the extradition, as well as enforcing a “rules based international order”.

The North Korean Embassy in Malaysia counselor Kim Yu Song speaks to journalists before leaving the country, after Pyongyang said it would be severing ties. Photo: EPA

“It will expose Kim Jong-un’s global illicit activities operations to the outside world,” said Maxwell, referring to the North Korean leader.