Four Malaysian diplomats and their family members are stuck in North Korea, and there’s not much their government can do to get them out.

All nine of them are pawns in the diplomatic fight that’s followed the murder of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s half-brother, who was killed in a Malaysian airport in February.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak accused Pyongyang of holding Malaysia’s citizens “hostage” and retaliated by issuing a similar ban for North Koreans in Malaysia.

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told reporters Tuesday discussions were underway with Pyongyang for the safe return of their citizens.

But is there anything else that can be done?

… “There has never been a case of Malaysian diplomats being trapped in a tit-for-tat with another country,” said Yang Razali, a Malaysian politics expert at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.