Kang was told to show up for a meeting with a Malaysian foreign ministry official on Saturday evening, but neither he nor the North Korean Embassy responded, the Malaysian foreign ministry said in its statement.

The ministry also referred to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations as backing up its decision to declare Kang persona non grata and force him out of the country.

The ministry stressed the latest decision marks the strongest expression of complaint any country could voice to a foreign ambassador, calling on Kang to revisit his previous criticisms heaped on Malaysia.

After the Malaysian police concluded that eight North Koreans are suspects in the case, North Korea vehemently denied its involvement in the murder and accused South Korea and Malaysia of cooking up the story against Pyongyang. Kang has been at the forefront of North Korea's claims.

Meanwhile, Malaysian reports said Sunday that Malaysian police chief Khalid Abu Bakar dismissed as "nonsense" one of the North Korean suspects' claim that he was treated unfairly during a police investigation in Malaysia.

Ri Jong-chol, one of the suspects, was interrogated in custody for his alleged involvement in the assassination, but was released and deported from Malaysia on Friday after the Malaysian police failed to prove his role.  

En route to North Korea, Ri argued that the Malaysian police investigation was unfair and that they had threatened to kill his wife and children.

Ri was treated by the police in the same manner as other suspects, the Malaysia police chief was quoted as saying. The police strictly stuck to the standard investigation procedures in dealing with the North Koren suspect, he said.

Later in the day, Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told reporters that the expulsion of Kang carries a clear and strong message from Malaysia to North Korea that the country should not misrepresent the case.

The deputy prime minister emphasized again that the Malaysian police investigation into the murder was executed in a very professional manner, brushing off North Korea's accusations. 

He also said the North Korean government should be aware of the international implications of the recent assassination, a rebuttal of the North's previous stance that the issue is solely an internal North Korean matter. (Yonhap)