Malaysian UN workers leave North Korea

The UN's World Food Programme said two of its Malaysian staff left North Korea yesterday after Kuala Lumpur and Pyongyang banned each other's citizens from leaving their countries in a row over the murder of Kim Jong-Nam.

"The staff members are international civil servants and not representatives of their national government. They work on WFP's programmes in DPR Korea," the UN agency said in a statement, adding that they had arrived in Beijing.

North Korea and Malaysia Tuesday banned each other's citizens from leaving their countries, with Kuala Lumpur saying its nationals were effectively being held "hostage".