Kim Jong-nam | |
|---|---|
 Kim in 2001 | |
| Born | (1971-05-10)10 May 1971 Pyongyang, North Korea |
| Died | 13 February 2017(2017-02-13) (aged 45) Sepang District,Selangor, Malaysia |
| Cause of death | Assassination (Nerve Agent poisoning) |
| Alma mater | Kim Il Sung University |
| Political party | Workers' Party of Korea |
| Spouses |
|
| Partner | So Yong-la |
| Children | 6, includingKim Han-sol |
| Parents |
|
| Relatives | Kim family |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance | North Korea |
| Branch | Korean People's Army Ground Force |
| Rank | Colonel |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 김정남 |
| Hanja | 金正男 |
| RR | Gim Jeongnam |
| MR | Kim Chŏngnam |
Kim Jong-nam (Korean: 김정남,Korean:[kim.dzɔŋ.nam];[a] 10 May 1971 – 13 February 2017) was the eldest son ofNorth Korean leaderKim Jong Il. From roughly 1994 to 2001, he was considered theheir apparent to his father.[1] He was thought to have fallen out of favor after embarrassing the regime in 2001 with a failed attempt to visitTokyo Disneyland with a false passport, although Kim himself said his loss of favor had been due to advocating reform.
Kim Jong-nam wasexiled from North Koreac. 2003, becoming an occasional critic of his family's regime.[2] His younger paternal half-brother,Kim Jong Un, was named heir apparent in September 2010.[3] On 13 February 2017, the North Korean governmentassassinated Kim Jong-nam with the nerve agentVX in Malaysia after previous failed attempts to kill him.[4]
In 2019,The Wall Street Journal reported that former US officials had stated that Kim Jong-nam had been aCIA source.[5][6]
Kim Jong-nam was born on 10 May 1971 inPyongyang, North Korea, toSong Hye-rim,[7] one of four women known to have had children withKim Jong Il. Because Kim Jong Il aimed to keep his affair with Song a secret due to the disapproval of his fatherKim Il Sung, he initially kept Jong-nam out of school, instead sending him to live with Song's older sisterSong Hye-rang, who tutored him at home.[8] North Korea Leadership Watch says he left North Korea to visit his grandmother inMoscow,Soviet Union, and spent his childhood at international schools in bothRussia andSwitzerland until returning to his home country in 1988.[9]
Kim Jong-nam was reported to have had a personality similar to that of his father, and was described by his aunt as being "hot-tempered, sensitive, and gifted in the arts".[10] His aunt also said in 2000 that he "[did] not wish to succeed his father".[10] Like Kim Jong Il, he was interested in film: he wrote scripts and short films from a young age.[10] His father also created a smallmovie set for him to use.[10]
Kim Jong-nam made several clandestine visits to Japan, starting as early as 1995.[10]
In 1998, Kim Jong-nam was appointed to a senior position in theMinistry of Public Security of North Korea, as a future leader.[11] He was also reported to have been appointed head of the North Korean Computer Committee, in charge of developing an information technology (IT) industry. In January 2001, he accompanied his father toShanghai, where he had talks with Chinese officials on the IT industry.[11]
In May 2001, Kim Jong-nam was arrested in Japan on arrival atNarita International Airport, accompanied by two women and a four-year-old boy identified as his son. He was traveling on a forgedDominican Republic passport using a Chinese alias, Pang Xiong (Chinese:胖熊;lit. 'fat bear').[12][13] After being detained, he was deported to China,[14] where he said he was traveling to Japan to visitTokyo Disneyland.[11] The incident caused his father to cancel a planned visit to China due to the embarrassment it caused him.[11]
Until the Tokyo incident, Kim Jong-nam was expected to become leader of the country after his father. In February 2003, theKorean People's Army began a propaganda campaign under the slogan "The respected Mother who is the most-faithful and loyal Subject to the Dear Leader Comrade Supreme Commander". This was interpreted as praise ofKo Yong Hui, and likely part of a campaign designed to promoteKim Jong-chul orKim Jong Un, her sons.[12][15]
Since the loyalty of the army is the foundation of the Kim family's continuing hold on power in North Korea, this was a serious detriment for Kim Jong-nam's prospects.[12][16] In late 2003, it was reported that Kim Jong-nam was living inMacau, lending strength to this belief.[12][17]
Kim Jong Un was left in charge while his father was on a state-visit to China.[16] Outsider observers also believedNorth Korea's sinking of a South Korean ship in March 2010 was part ofKim Jong Il's attempt to secure succession for the youngest Kim: provoking a security crisis he could use to rally military support behind Kim Jong Un.[16]
Kim Jong-nam's loss of favor was thought to have been caused by the Tokyo incident.[12] However, Kim Jong-nam himself claimed that he had fallen out of favor due to advocating for reform.[18] In an email to the editor of theTokyo Shimbun, Kim Jong-nam wrote that after being educated in Switzerland, he "insisted on reform and market-opening", leading his father to decide that he had "turned into a capitalist".[18] Kim Jong-nam at this time has also been described as "the closest North Korean ever to have been an international playboy",[19] and gained a reputation for "gambling and drinking and arranging the occasional business deal".[20] He used to be the only member of the Kim family to ever speak directly to media outside of North Korea,[19] until Kim Jong Un took a question from a foreign journalist during the2019 North Korea - United States Hanoi Summit.[21][22]
It was believed that Kim Jong-nam had friendly ties to China. Outside analysts considered him as a possible candidate to replace Kim Jong Un if the North Korean leadership imploded and China, traditionally an ally, sought a replacement leader.[12][23]
TheAsahi Shimbun reported that Kim Jong-nam, while traveling to see his brotherKim Jong-chul inMunich, survived an assassination attempt at theBudapest Ferihegy International Airport in July 2006. According to South Korean reports, the Hungarian government protested against the incident to the North Korean embassy in Vienna, requesting there be no recurrence.[24][25] It was reported in theSouth China Morning Post, on 1 February 2007, that Kim Jong-nam had been living incognito with his family inMacau for some three years.
South Korean television and theSouth China Morning Post reported in 2007 that Kim Jong-nam had a Portuguese passport. However, Portuguese authorities and thePortuguese consul in Macau, Pedro Moitinho de Almeida, stated that if Kim had such a document, it would be a forgery.[26]
In January 2009, Kim Jong-nam said that he had "no interest" in taking power in North Korea after his father, stating that it is only for his father to decide.[27]
In June 2010, Kim Jong-nam gave a brief interview to theAssociated Press in Macau while waiting for a hotel elevator.[28] He said that he had "no plans" to defect to Europe, as the press had recently rumored.[28] He lived in an apartment on the southern tip of Macau'sColoane Island until 2007.[29] An anonymous South Korean official reported in October 2010 that Kim Jong-nam had not lived in Macau for "months", and shuttled between China and "another country".[29]
In late September 2010, his younger half-brotherKim Jong Un was made heir apparent.[30][31] Kim Jong Un was declared Supreme Leader of North Korea on 24 December 2011 after the death of Kim Jong Il. The two half-brothers had never met because of the ancient practice of raising potential successors separately.[32][33]
On 1 January 2012, it was reported that Kim Jong-nam secretly flew to Pyongyang from Macau on 17 December 2011, after learning about his father's death that day and was presumed to have accompanied Kim Jong Un when paying his last respects to their father. He left after a few days to return to Macau and was not in attendance at the funeral to avoid speculation about the succession.[34]
On 14 January 2012, Kim Jong-nam was seen inBeijing waiting for anAir China flight to Macau. He confirmed his identity to a group of South Koreans, which included a professor atIncheon University and told them that he usually travels alone.[35]
In a book released in 2012 titledMy Father, Kim Jong Il, and me by Japanese journalist Gomi Yōji who had interviewed him on numerous occasions, Kim Jong-nam said that he expected the leadership of Kim Jong Un to fail, citing that he was too inexperienced and young. He also stated, reportedly, that "[w]ithout reforms, North Korea will collapse, and when such changes take place, the regime will collapse".[36]
According to South Korean intelligence sources, Kim Jong Un had issued a standing order to have his half-brother killed.[12] In 2012, there was another assassination attempt on Kim Jong-nam, who later that year sent a letter to his half-brother begging for his life.[12] In late 2012, he appeared inSingapore one year after leaving Macau.[37] He left Macau on suspicions that he was being targeted for assassination by Kim Jong Un; South Korean authorities had formerly indicted a North Korean agent, Kim Yong-su, who confessed to planning an attack on Kim Jong-nam in July 2010.[38]
On 10 June 2019, theWall Street Journal, citing former US officials, stated that Kim Jong-nam had been aCIA source. A book byAnna Fifield,Washington Post bureau chief in Beijing, had earlier reported this, stating that he had been previously filmed abroad with a US intelligence agent, and had carried a backpack containing $120,000 in cash.[5][6]
On 13 February 2017, Kim Jong-nam died after being exposed toVX nerve agent atKuala Lumpur International Airport inMalaysia.[39] It is widely believed that he was killed on the orders of his half-brotherKim Jong Un.[40][41][42] Four North Korean suspects left the airport shortly after the attack, traveling back to Pyongyang.[43][44]
An Indonesian woman, Siti Aisyah, and a Vietnamese woman, Đoàn Thị Hương, were charged with murder but said they thought they were taking part in a TV prank.[45] In March 2019, Siti Aisyah was freed after the charge against her was dropped.[46] In April, the murder charge against Hương was also dropped, and she pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of "voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means".[47] She was sentenced to three years and four months in prison, but received a one-third reduction in her term, and was released on 3 May 2019.[48][49]
It has been reported that Kim Jong-nam hadtwo wives, and onemistress,[29] and had at least six children.[50] His first wife, Shin Jong-hui (bornc. 1980), lives at a home called Dragon Villa on the northern outskirts of Beijing.[29] His second wife, Lee Hye-kyong (bornc. 1970), their sonHan-sol (born 1995), and their daughter Sol-hui (bornc. 1998) lived in a modest 12-storyapartment building inMacau;[29] his mistress, formerAir Koryoflight attendant So Yong-la (bornc. 1980), also lives in Macau.[29] He had several tattoos, including two ofdragons.[51]
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"there has been a standing order" to assassinate his half brother, Lee Byung-ho, the director of the South's National Intelligence Service, said during a closed-door briefing at the National Assembly, according to lawmakers who attended it." This is not a calculated action to remove Kim Jong-nam because he was a challenge to power per se, but rather reflected Kim Jong-un's paranoia," Mr. Lee was quoted as saying. Kim Jong-un wanted his half brother killed, Mr. Lee said, and there was an assassination attempt against him in 2012. Mr. Kim Jong-nam was so afraid of assassins that he begged for his life in a letter to his half brother in 2012. "Please withdraw the order to punish me and my family," Mr. Kim Jong-nam was quoted as saying in the letter. "We have nowhere to hide. The only way to escape is to choose suicide." (...)
Kim Jong-nam probably also ordered the deadly attack by the application of a VX nerve agent—one of the most toxic of the chemical warfare agents—against Jong-nam, his half-brother and erstwhile competitor for the position of supreme leader of North Korea.[contradictory][check spelling]
A post-mortem report submitted to the trial Tuesday revealed new personal details about Kim, such as that he had several tattoos, including one of a dragon and another of a dragon's head breathing fire.
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| National | |
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