Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. [25], In June 2010, Kim Jong-nam gave a brief interview to the Associated Press in Macau while waiting for a hotel elevator. In the Rehn interview, Kim Han Sol said he usually visits the reclusive country every year to meet relatives. According to South Korean reports, the Hungarian government protested against the incident to the North Korean embassy in Vienna, requesting there be no recurrence. The son of Kim Jong Nam -- the murdered half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un -- has been seen for the first time since his father's death. Pyongyang vehemently denies it. Although he was widely expected for many years to succeed his father, he fell out of favour and went into exile. [38], On 13 February 2017, Kim died after being attacked by two women with VX nerve agent at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia while traveling from Macau under a pseudonym. Siti Aisyah and Doan Thi Huong face the death penalty if they are convicted of murdering Kim Jong Nam, the eldest son of former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and half-brother of current ruler Kim Jong Un. Kim Jong-nam was the eldest son of the late “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-il and had been considered his designated heir until he fell from favour in 2001. "It was the house that he used when he went back to North Korea.". He was their citizen, and the body should be handed back to them, they said. At least two women, one wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the letters LOL, approached Kim. According to South Korea’s spy agency, there had been past attempts on his life, and in 2012 he wrote to Pyongyang begging for his family and himself to be spared. Choe, Sang-hun; Paddock, Richard C. (15 February 2017). The nine Malaysians stuck in Pyongyang were allowed to return home. She was married at the time, though was later compelled to get a divorce. [16] In an email to the editor of the Tokyo Shimbun, Kim 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". ", https://web.archive.org/web/20170214164214/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/14/profile-kim-jong-nam-exiled-half-brother-north-korean-dictator/, "Kim Jong-nam, the Hunted Heir to a Dictator Who Met Death in Exile", https://web.archive.org/web/20170216053304/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/15/world/asia/kim-jong-nam-assassination-north-korea.html, https://web.archive.org/web/20090131230508/http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/4/9/2/n648488p.htm, "Death of Kim's consort: Dynastic implications", http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/FI02Dg01.html, "The sad story of Kim Jong Chul, the North Korean leader's brother and Eric Clapton megafan", https://web.archive.org/web/20170215033829/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/05/22/the-sad-story-of-kim-jong-chul-the-north-korean-leaders-brother-and-eric-clapton-megafan/, "The Maybe-Gay Son of Kim Jong-Il Definitely Won't Be North Korea's Next Leader", https://web.archive.org/web/20170215021612/https://www.queerty.com/the-maybe-gay-son-of-kim-jong-il-who-definitely-wont-be-north-koreas-next-leader-20111219, "Succession May Be Behind N. Korea's New Belligerence", https://web.archive.org/web/20170228170339/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/28/world/asia/28north.html, "Kim Jong-un's half-brother takes refuge in S'pore and Malaysia", https://web.archive.org/web/20170215020640/http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2014/01/24/kim-jong-uns-half-brother-takes-refuge-in-spore-and-malaysia/, "Kim Jong-nam Says N.Korean Regime Won't Last Long", https://web.archive.org/web/20120119211617/http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2012/01/17/2012011701790.html, "Kim Jong-nam was North Korea's only international playboy", https://web.archive.org/web/20170303042731/http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/kim-jong-nam-assassinated, "The strange life, and sudden death, of North Korean exile Kim Jong Nam", https://web.archive.org/web/20170302112252/https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017/02/28/the-strange-life-and-sudden-death-of-north-korean-exile-kim-jong-nam.html, "China Suspends All Coal Imports From North Korea", https://web.archive.org/web/20170219080116/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/18/world/asia/north-korea-china-coal-imports-suspended.html, "Was Kim Jong Nam in sights of his paranoid half-brother? (CNN)Two women from humble backgrounds in Indonesia and Vietnam are the only people charged in the world's most high-profile murder mystery. An ambulance was called, but it was too late. Updated 1010 GMT (1810 HKT) September 26, 2017. On the night of February 12, the Sunday before Kim Jong Nam was killed, she gathered with a small group of friends to mark the occasion. No members of Kim Jong Nam’s immediate family have come forward to claim his body. Video appears to show Kim Jong Nam attacked, North Korea's history of covert operations. He was known to be of the opinion that North Korea should be governed more liberally. Jang Song Thaek (L), uncle of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (R), on Feb. 16, 2012. He was said to have led a network of people who worked for Kim Jong Il, managing accounts worth millions of dollars, and checking up on diplomats. [9][15], Kim Jong-un was left in charge while his father was on a state visit to China. The autopsy showed Kim had been killed by a powerful VX nerve agent. For the most part, Pyongyang has insinuated that the investigation was tainted from the beginning, when South Korea was the first country to name Kim Jong Nam as the victim. His father was the unofficial heir apparent until 2001, when he fell out of favor with the regime after a failed attempt to secretly visit Japan's Disneyland in May 2001. [36], It has been reported that Kim had two wives, at least one mistress,[27] and had at least six children. That was believed to be an alias Kim used for travel. 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 in its client state. People of the American Civil War by state, Pages containing cite templates with deprecated parameters, Articles incorporating text from Wikipedia, North Korea's sinking of a South Korean ship, "Kim Jong-un's Big Threat: His Older Brother", https://web.archive.org/web/20160829164752/http://www.globalo.com/kim-jong-un-big-threat-his-older-brother/, "North Korea's leader will not last long, says Kim Jong-un's brother", https://web.archive.org/web/20131223185736/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jan/17/north-korea-leader-not-long, "Kim Jong-un confirmed North Korean heir ahead of massive military parade", https://web.archive.org/web/20111031050924/http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2010/1008/Kim-Jong-un-confirmed-North-Korean-heir-ahead-of-massive-military-parade, https://web.archive.org/web/20170306033453/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/02/15/who-was-kim-jong-nam/, https://web.archive.org/web/20080408095913/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C460254-1%2C00.html, "N. Korean leader’s half brother killed in Malaysia in possible poison attack, police say", https://web.archive.org/web/20170302193851/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/north-korean-leaders-half-brother-killed-by-poison-in-malaysia-reports-claim/2017/02/14/7324f8c6-f2af-11e6-8d72-263470bf0401_story.html, https://web.archive.org/web/20170217101731/https://books.google.com/books?id=QMnf95z_x44C&pg=PA697, "Profile: Who was Kim Jong-nam, the exiled half-brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un? Eventually, each country barred the others' citizens from leaving. [9][10][11] After being detained he was deported to China,[12] where he said he was travelling to Japan to visit Tokyo Disneyland. Kim sought help nearby, but by the time he arrived at the airport clinic he fainted. [9][13], Since the loyalty of the army is the real foundation of the Kim family's continuing hold on power in North Korea, this was a serious development for Kim Jong-nam's prospects. But the four suspects are still at large. It was a rare window into the workings of the North Korean elite, seen through the prism of former leader Kim Jong Il's first-born son, an overweight playboy, but also a smart and open-minded man, according to Yoji Gomi, the author of the 2012 book "My Father, Kim Jong Il, and Me." He was reputed to have a pronounced taste for gambling, carousing, and womanizing but was nonetheless described as being both educated and thoughtful. Kim Han-sol's half-uncle, Kim Jong-un, was named the heir apparent in September 2010, and succeeded Kim Jong-il upon the latter's death in December 2011. Kim Jong Nam was born in 1971, the result of an affair between Kim Jong Il and North Korean actress Song Hye-rim, said Madden.