How Kim Jong-il's First Born Fell From Grace

This article was published April 10th and written by Chosun Ilbo columnist Choi Byung-muk.

How Kim Jong-il's Firstborn Fell from Grace

In February 1978, Choi Eun-hee, a South Korean actress kidnapped by North Korea, was invited to the residence of Kim Jong-il, where a family party was being held to celebrate his 36th birthday.

Choi asked one chubby little child what his name was. The child shot back, "Why does she want to know my name?" Kim told the child that he should introduce himself when an adult asks his name. Throughout the party, Kim constantly kept the seven-year-old boy at his side.

As a child, Jong-nam, Kim's oldest son, got all his father's love and attention. On his birthdays, Jong-nam would dress up in military uniform and show off his insignias.

In mid-April each year, just before his birthday on May 10, North Korea mobilized teams of people whose mission was to buy presents. They traveled to Japan, Hong Kong, Germany and Austria to buy gifts for the child. Diamond-studded watches, gold-plated toy guns, electronic games, luxury brand clothes and shoes were purchased.

They would come back to North Korea with US$1 million worth of merchandise, according to a book on North Korea's "royal family" by Lee Han-young.

Kim sent Jong-nam to a private school in Geneva, Switzerland in 1980. This is how he became fluent in English and French. While Jong-nam was studying in Geneva, Kim had two more sons -- Jong-chul and Jong-un -- with a dancer named Ko Young-hee, and Jong-nam now had to share his love with two other children.

Jong-nam had always been considered as the top candidate to succeed his father, but a comment he made in the late 1990s to the children of high-ranking North Korean officials became a big problem. He vowed to open North Korea and implement reforms when he became the heir apparent.

Kim Jong-il is said finally to have lost confidence in Jong-nam in 1996, when Song Hye-rang, the boy's aunt and mother of Lee Han-young, defected to the West. Jong-nam has been wandering the world since early 2001, when he was expelled from Japan after attempting to enter the country on a forged Dominican passport.

Even after Ko Young-hee's death in 2004, Jong-nam was not allowed to freely enter Pyongyang. During his occasional encounters with journalists overseas, Jong-nam would utter a few words, but always avoided answering questions about the succession.

But in January this year, Kim Jong-nam did broach the taboo subject, saying it was a matter for his father to decide. And 10 days ago, he said it was Japan's right to defend itself by intercepting North Korea's missile, directly contradicting the North's official stance that it would consider this as an act of war. And in an interview with Japan’s TBS on Wednesday, Jong-nam said, "Would I be traveling in Macau dressed like this [in sweats] if I was the successor?"

His frank comments suggest that he has been removed from the list of possible successors. It seems that not even Kim Jong-il, who is treated like a deity in North Korea, can get his children to turn out the way he wants them to.

Hmm, but I don't quite understand the bit about why Jong-nam was not freely allowed to enter Pyongyang even after Ko Young-hee's death.