Report: North Korea recalls ambassador to Malaysia

PETALING JAYA - North Korea's ambassador to Malaysia, a relative of leader Kim Jong-un, has been recalled just days after the young supremo's uncle was apparently ousted in a leadership purge, according to a report.

The South's National Intelligence Service (NIS) told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday that it believed Kim's uncle and political regent Jang Song Thaek had been removed and two associates executed.

Now Jang's nephew Jang Yong Chol, the North Korean ambassador to Malaysia, is believed to have been called back to Pyongyang, an intelligence source in Bejing told Yonhap news agency.

The ambassador's wife and two sons were spotted on Thursday before boarding an Air Koryo flight to Pyongyang in China's north-eastern city of Shenyang, Yonhap said, citing multiple witnesses.