KUALA LUMPUR, March 7 — Malaysian police sealed off the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur to ascertain the number of officials inside, the deputy home minister said today, as tensions escalated over the killing of the North Korean leader’s estranged half-brother.

"We are trying to physically identify all the embassy staff who are here,” deputy home minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed told reporters outside the embassy.

He said staff would not be allowed to leave the embassy "until we are satisfied of their numbers and where they are”.

Malaysian police seal off access into and out of the North Korean embassy in Damansara Heights, Kuala Lumpur after the government imposed a ban on its diplomats from leaving the country on March 7, 2017.

North Korea barred Malaysians from leaving the country today, prompting Malaysia to take tit-for-tat action, as police in Kuala Lumpur sought to question up to three men hiding in the North Korean embassy over the murder of Kim Jong-nam. — Reuters