TOKYO - The oldest son of Kim Jong Il, the late leader of North
Korea, has reappeared in Singapore nearly one year after fleeing
his home in Macau.
Mr Kim Jong Nam, 41, had been living a life of luxury in the former
Portuguese enclave, but disappeared in January after celebrating
the arrival of the New Year with his family, according to the Daily
Telegraph.
South Korean sources told the Chosun Ilbo newspaper that Mr Kim
Jong Nam fled Macau in fear of his life after his younger
half-brother, Kim Jong Un, took over as head of North Korea. The
father of the two men, Kim Jong Il, died in December last
year.
Mr Kim Jong Nam had been groomed by his father to take over the
leadership of North Korea until an error of judgment saw him fall
from grace.
Arrested in Tokyo in 2001 as he tried to enter Japan on a fake
Dominican Republic passport, accompanied by a woman and a child, Mr
Kim Jong Nam told the Japanese authorities that he had wanted to
visit Tokyo Disneyland.
His father exiled Mr Kim Jong Nam to Macau and the dynasty was left
in the hands of his 29-year-old half-brother.
Interviewed by Japanese journalist Yoji Gomi for a book that was
released in January, Mr Kim Jong Nam said North Korea is being run
by an inexperienced young man who is likely to be acting at the
behest of other forces, and that without economic reforms similar
to those carried out in China, he could fall from power.
In the book, "My Father, Kim Jong Il, and I: Kim Jong Nam's
Exclusive Confession," he also voiced strong opposition to the
hereditary transfer of power to his half-brother - and claims his
father had been equally against the idea until shortly before his
death as it runs completely counter to socialist philosophy.
Mr Kim Jong Nam also said he was a strong advocate of a
"people-first" policy, instead of the North's present
"military-first" ideal.
In October, South Korean authorities indicted a North Korean agent
for violating the National Security Law. Prosecutors said Mr Kim
Yong Su had been ordered by the North Korean regime to travel to
China in July 2010 to kidnap Mr Kim Jong Nam.
Mr Kim Yong Su has reportedly confessed to planning to bribe a
Chinese taxi driver to drive into Mr Kim Jong Nam and disguise it
as an accident and claim diplomatic immunity to get him back to
North Korea.
Mr Kim Yong Su, who was arrested on a subsequent mission to Seoul,
has admitted that the outright assassination of Mr Kim Jong Nam
would have been too blatant an act for the rest of the world to
dismiss.
The Chosun Ilbo
reported that Mr Kim Jong Nam moved to Singapore because his
apartments in Macau were known to the media and North Korean
agents. He opted to settle in Singapore as it is easy for him to
travel to Europe, where his 17-year-old son is a student at an
international college in Bosnia. His wife, Lee Hye Kyong and his
daughter, 13, are believed to still be living in
Macau.
AGENCIES
http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC121116-0000139/Kim-Jong-Ils-son-reappears-in-Singapore--Report
