Former North Korean heir-apparent assassinated

Kim Jong Nam drew worldwide attention in 2001 when he was arrested in Japan while attempting to visit Tokyo Disneyland with his son on a fake Dominican Republic passport.

Kim Jong Nam was pronounced dead en route toa [sic] nearby hospital, Mr. Abdul Samah said, adding that an autopsy is now under way.

Jong-nam always looked more human than Un.

He was rushed to a hospital but died en route, the official said. In 2001, he unsuccessfully tried to visit Disneyland in Japan using a fake passport and Chinese alias that translated “fat bear”, a rather stupid move which embarrassed his father and ended any chance of him becoming leader.

He had spoken out publicly against the reign of his family in the country.

For instance, Kim Jong Un has been building up his personal image after their late grandfather and founder of North Korea, Kim Il Sung, to win popularity from the people and to justify the unforeseen power succession.

Interestingly, his half-brother, the current North Korea leader, was also educated in Switzerland but developed no such opinions.

Kim Jong Nam had arrived in Malaysia on February 6 and was attacked Monday before boarding a plane to Macau, according to the Malaysiakini online news outlet.

The campaign successfully pushed Jong-nam out of the family and allowed his younger brother to take up the position of leadership in North Korea after their father died. North Korea does have a history of sending agents overseas to perform kidnappings, attacks, and assassinations, the BBC reports. Other outlets, quoting Malaysian government sources, say the women sprayed poison in his face.

Kim Jong Nam and Kim Jong Un have the same father, late dictator Kim Jong Il, but different mothers.

The Malaysian inspector general of police said in a news release the deceased North Korean man was traveling with a passport bearing the name Kim Chol.

It noted previous attempts to assassinate Hwang Jang-Yop, the North’s chief ideologue and former tutor to Kim Jong-Il, who defected to the South in 1997 and died of natural causes in 2010.

Kim Jong-Un was even bestowed an honorary doctorate in economics by a Malaysian university in 2013-the award was accepted on Kim’s behalf by Jang Yong-chol, the ambassador who was later executed.

Kim Jong Nam has been described as a “playboy” and also reportedly told Japanese broadcaster Asahi in 2011 that he had reservations about North Korea’s hereditary transfer of power.

South Korea’s TV Chosun reported that Kim had been poisoned at the airport by two women believed to be North Korean operatives.

Kim had no official title and lived outside North Korea.

Kim Jong Il had at least three sons with two women, as well as a daughter by a third.

“Given the recent defections”, he said, “Kim Jong Un felt the need to show that the regime could get to anyone who may be contemplating opposing the regime”.