SEOUL: North Korea has retaliated and designated the Malaysian ambassador to the hermit kingdom as persona non grata and demanded the envoy leave the country within 48 hours from 10am on Sunday, its official KCNA news agency said on Monday.

However, the Malaysian Ambassador to North Korea Mohamad Nizan Mohamad (pic), had already been recalled to Kuala Lumpur for consultation and arrived at the KL International Airport (KLIA) on Feb 22.

North Korean ambassador to Malaysia Kang Chol was declared persona non grata on March 4 and given 48 hours to leave the country after he failed to appear when summoned by Wisma Putra.

His Malaysia Airlines flight to Beijing, China took off from KLIA at 6.25pm Monday, where he is expected to book a connecting flight to Pyongyang, North Korea.