Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said that negotiations between North Korea and Malaysia over the safe return of Malaysians prevented from leaving the reclusive state started last week.

"Still ongoing, started last Monday," he said, when asked about the negotiations by reporters in Parliament House today.

Quizzed if this means that formal negotiations have started, he said that it is still being handled at the government officials-level and not yet kicked upstairs to high-level representatives from both sides...