At one point, Kim Jong-nam was slated to succeed his father Kim Jong-il as North Korea’s leader. Then there was that unfortunate incident at Narita Airport outside Tokyo—Kim was detained there in 2001 for travelling with a fake Dominican passport.
Kim Jong-nam reportedly fell out of favor after that embarrassing incident. He ultimately moved abroad, living in Macau and later Malaysia. He has now reportedly been murdered by “two female agents” who poisoned him in Kuala Lumpur. Presumably, his assailants were North Korean agents. It’s thought that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un was nervous about his half-brother (they have different mothers) potentially constituting a rival power center, and may have offed him.
The news comes from a reputable source: Yonhap, which is essentially South Korea’s version of the Associated Press. But, a word of caution is in order. Much of the news reported about North Korea—while not quite “fake news”—ends up being wrong. Recall, as an instructive example, the breathless and false reports that Kim Jong-un’s uncle had been mauled to death by dogs.
In other words, it’s probably too early to tell if Kim Jong-nam is alive or dead. Call him Schrodinger’s Kim.
UPDATE: NK News confirms that Kim Jong-nam has died, though not that he was murdered.
