Mavcom aviation development director Germal Singh Khera said Air Koryo had stopped flying to Kuala Lumpur in 2014.

He said its application to fly to Malaysia was rejected by the commission due to sanctions imposed by the United Nations.

“This was due to the United Nations Resolution 2270 imposing economic sanctions on North Korea,” Germal told FMT.

Air Koryo is in the spotlight after police named one of its Malaysia office staff, Kim Uk Il, 37, as a person of interest in investigations in the murder of Kim Jong Nam.

Air Koryo’s virtual office in Kuala Lumpur had suddenly “closed shop”, plausibly due to the media attention over Jong Nam’s murder.

Worldwide Highsky Sdn Bhd, which used to host Air Koryo at its offices on Jalan Ampang, had apparently removed the Air Koryo sign outside its offices, The Star reported.

The daily also reported that receptionists of the host company had “fled” after a South Korean TV crew came to film the office.

Malaysian citizens do not need a visa to travel to North Korea with Malaysia being one of a handful of countries to have full diplomatic relations with Pyongyang.

According to a travel agent, since direct flights by Air Koryo ceased in 2014, the fastest route for Malaysians going to Pyongyang was to first fly to Beijing, China where they could take a connecting flight on either Air Koryo or Air China.

The agent said another option was to hop on a sleeper train from Moscow to Pyongyang, passing the Russian border town of Khasan, “but this would take days”.

“You will need a pre-arranged tour agency to prep you before you travel to North Korea. Otherwise, you can head to South Korea, and board a train to the north. That works too,” the agent said.

Kim Jong Nam killing puts spotlight on Malaysia-North Korea ties