NORTH Korea has banned Malaysians from leaving the country until “the incident that happened in Malaysia is properly solved”.

There are reportedly nine Malaysian nationals in the communist country who will be unable to return home as the investigation into Kim Jong Nam’s murder continues.

Mr Kim, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, was killed in Malaysia last month.

In the latest shot fired in a growing diplomatic row between the two Asian nations, the North Korean state news agency, KCNA, reported the ban would stay in place until Pyongyang was satisfied the case was solved.

Two women, one from Indonesia, another from Vietnam, have been charged with murder.

The BBC reports Malaysia has not directly blamed North Korea for the attack but there is widespread suspicion Pyongyang was responsible.

Several North Koreans are being sought by police in connection with the killing.

The ban comes two days after Malaysia expelled the North Korean ambassador for criticising the nvestigation into Mr Kim’s death.

Kim Jong Nam was attacked with the nerve agent VX in a Kuala Lumpur airport terminal.

The estranged half brother of the North Korean leader had lived in exile since 2001.

Malaysian police issued an arrest warrant for a North Korean airline employee accused of involvement in the poisoning one day before expelling the ambassador.

Malaysia demanded he apologise for comments critical of the investigation and expelled him when no apology was forthcoming.

Eight North Koreans are suspected of involvement in the killing.

South Korea has pointed the finger of blame at secretive nation, citing what they say was a standing order from leader Kim Jong Un to kill his exiled half-brother, who may have been seen as a potential rival.

North Korea is still yet to acknowledge the dead man’s identity and has vehemently protested the investigation, saying Malaysia is in cahoots with its enemies.

The accusation has fuelled a diplomatic rift, which has seen Malaysia recall its envoy to Pyongyang and cancel a rare visa-free travel deal with North Korea.

The moves come amid the release of frightening images released by North Korea, which purport to show Kim Jong Un watching missiles launch, apparently in practice for attacking US bases in Japan.

Kim Jong Un watched on, “feasting his eyes on the trails of ballistic rockets,” the Korean Central News Agency reported.

“If the United States or South Korea fires even a single flame inside North Korean territory, we will demolish the origin of the invasion and provocation with a nuclear tipped missile,” the KCNA statement said.

The four ballistic missiles fired on Monday morning were launched by the elite division “tasked to strike the bases of the U.S. imperialist aggressor forces in Japan,” KCNA said.

There are 54,000 US military personnel stationed in Japan.

The four missiles each flew nearly 1000km across North Korea before landing in the sea.