ISTANBUL 

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Wednesday that he “exchanged greetings” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Beijing.

Anwar and Kim were among the leaders from 26 nations who attended a military parade in Beijing, marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

The Malaysian Prime Minister wrote on US social media company X that he met Kim “by chance,” and he had the opportunity to greet the North Korean leader, who made his first appearance in an international event.

Pyongyang had severed ties with Kuala Lumpur back in March 2021.

“Malaysia deeply regrets the 19 March 2021 decision by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to sever diplomatic ties with Malaysia,” the Malaysian Foreign Ministry had said at the time. DPRK is the official name of North Korea.

Pyongyang’s decision to snap ties with Kuala Lumpur had come in reaction to a Malaysian court’s order to extradite a North Korean national, Mun Chol Myong, to the US.

In February 2017, Kim Jong-nam, who is said to be the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim, was assassinated at an airport in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia “had been persistent in pursuing concrete efforts to strengthen our relations with the DPRK even after the deplorable assassination of Kim Jong Nam in 2017,” the Foreign Ministry had said after Pyongyang snapped ties in 2021.