Who is Kim Jong-nam? Kim Jong-un’s half-brother killed in Malaysia
Kim Jong-nam is believed to have been murdered by two female assassins despatched from Pyongyang, according to the South Korea’s spy agency. Lee Byung-ho, director of the National Intelligence Service, told National Assembly members that Mr Kim was killed with poison at the airport. As the investigation into the death continues, here is a look at the life of the one-time heir of North Korea who died in exile.
Reuters Who is the older half brother of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un?
Who is Kim Jong-nam? Kim Jong-nam was the eldest son of former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, who died in late 2011. For many years, the son of North Korean actress Song Hye-rim was considered to be the heir apparent to his father. But he fell out of favour after being attempting to enter Japan to visit Tokyo Disneyland using a forged passport in 2001. Kim Jong-il cancelled a planned visit to China out of embarrassment and his son effectively entered exile soon after.
AFP Getty Former North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il with his son Kim Jong-Nam
During his time in exile, Kim Jong-nam gained a playboy reputation and occasionally criticised the secretive regime ruled by his family for decades. Kim Jong-il passed over Kim Jong-nam and groomed his younger son Kim Jong-un as his successor. Kim Jong-nam did not attend his funeral in 2011. Living outside of the isolationist country, Kim Jong-nam was often spotted with fashionable ladies at airports and visited casinos in Macau.
The Kim Dynasty: Inside North Korea's secretive 'first family' Tue, February 14, 2017 The fate of the ruling Kim's family of North Korea, the world's only hereditary totalitarian Stalinist state. Play slideshow REUTERS 1 of 10 KIM JONG-SUK: North Korean founder Kim Il-sung and his first wife Kim Jong-suk gave birth to their son Kim Jong-il in 1941.