Yes, the kill keys can be pretty tight. But that's a price you have to pay to have it hidden. Any bigger, and you can't get the pommel on. Trust me, I went through many different kill key and recharge port designs before arriving at this one. At one time, the recharge port was just going to be loose and sitting in the pommel with a short length of wire so it could moved out of the way. I have been told that over time, those 1.3mm ports get a little easier to pull the keys out of - but don't quote me on that, and I make no promises.
I don't use anything as fancy as needle nose pliers - I use my teeth on my saber. ;D