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China-Japan-Koreas

Fat Boy Kim Jong-un Keeps Uncle in Check

2017-02-08

North Korean leader Pudgy Kim Jong-un in early 2015 shunted his uncle Kim Pyong-il from his perennial post as ambassador to Poland to the Czech Republic to weaken his position, sources say. Kim Pyong-il (63), a half-brother of Kim Jong-il, had been ambassador to Poland for 16 years and had an entrenched network of connections there. The source said Kim Pyong-il was poised to become dean of the diplomatic corps in Warsaw when the incumbent left in late 2014. The position, which is customarily held by the longest-serving envoy, would have meant hosting various diplomatic events and cementing his status as an influential player on the international stage. The cheap Kim Jong-un apparently wanted to avoid this and decided to shunt his uncle abruptly to the Czech Republic. Kim Pyong-il was born to regime founder Kim Il-sung and his second wife Kim Song-ae. He was at one point involved in a power struggle with his half-brother but was then sent into cushioned exile, spending altogether 38 years abroad, first as a military attaché in the embassy in Yugoslavia in 1979. "The presence of Kim Pyong-il, who resembles Kim Il-sung, must be a threat to the corpulent Kim Jong-un, who is trying to win people's hearts by imitating his grandfather," speculated a researcher at a government-funded think tank here. "It seems the regime has sent a senior officer from the State Security Department to Prague to watch him." Hong Kong media last year reported that there was a movement among senior defectors to form a government-in-exile with Kim Pyong-il as its head.

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China-Japan-Koreas

Kimmie's Half-Brother Gets Czech Job

2015-01-26

Kim Pyong-il, a half-brother of former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, has been appointed ambassador to the Czech Republic. He served as ambassador to Poland for 17 years. The new North Korean ambassador to Poland is Ri Kun, who was formerly responsible for American affairs and the six-party nuclear talks in the Foreign Ministry. Kim Pyong-il was born to North Korea's first leader Kim Il-sung and his second wife Kim Song-ae and was kept at arm's length from the regime for most of his half-brother's life. Whether the move to the Czech Republic is a reward or a punishment or something else entirely is unclear, though Prague is generally seen as a pleasanter city than Warsaw.

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China-Japan-Koreas

Will Kimmie's Exiled Relatives Attend the Funeral?

2011-12-23

Only if they want to die... Kremlinologists Observers are wondering whether dead North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's estranged half-brother Pyong-il and his eldest son Jong-nam will return from overseas to attend the funeral next week. Kim Pyong-il, who looks much like his father Kim Il-sung, was once considered a rival to Jong-il for the leadership but was sidelined and has lived in virtual exile as the North's perpetual ambassador to Poland. Kim Jong-nam was believed to be the likely heir but fell from favor and was replaced by his half-brother Pudgy Jong-un. He leads an itinerant existence in Hong Kong and Macau. Wonder how much longer he gets money from China... A government official said Wednesday both, as family members, may attend the funeral but no intelligence suggests they are on their way to Pyongyang. Observers believe Pyong-il is more likely to attend the funeral than Jong-nam. Radio Free Asia on Tuesday quoted a source in Poland as saying Kim Pyong-il seems to have left Warsaw and is highly likely to attend. But given Kim Jong-nam's open criticism of the hereditary succession to the Japanese press, new leader Jong-un may want to keep his half-brother away, or Jong-nam may decide it is unsafe for him to return.

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China-Japan-Koreas

N. Korea Promotes Power Elite Ahead of Anniversary

2011-04-14

The North Korean regime has promoted two military officers to colonel generals, five to lieutenant generals, and 38 to major generals as founder Kim Il-sung's birthday approaches. The official KCNA news agency on Wednesday said one of the two new colonel generals is O Il-jong (57), the director of the Workers Party's Military Affairs Department and a son of leader Kim Il-sung's closest aide O Jin-u, the former minister of the People's Armed Forces "It seems many senior military officers who are expected to play key parts in the era of Kim's son Jong-un benefited from the latest promotions," a South Korean government source said. "Some may even be promoted to vice marshals and four-star generals just ahead of the North Korean Army's anniversary on April 25." There is speculation that Sonny Boy Kim Jong-un, who was given the title of a four-star general last September, will be promoted to vice marshal. One feature of the latest promotions is that many of the beneficiaries are the sons of first-generation revolutionaries who fought against the Japanese alongside Kim Il-sung. As the director of the Military Affairs Department since last year, O Il-jong supervises reserve forces including the 4 million-strong Worker-Peasant Red Guards. Experts believe that O Junior managed to get promoted thanks to his late father's influence although he was a schoolmate of Kim Jong-il's quasi-exiled brother Pyong-il, the perennial ambassador to Poland. One of the most prominent second-generation leaders is Choe Ryong-hae (63), a party secretary and son of former minister of People's Armed Forces Choe Hyon. As a senior secretary in North Hwanghae Province, he was promoted to four-star general alongside Kim Jong-un last September. He has been appointed to almost all key party posts, including party secretary, member of the Central Military Commission, and associate member of the Politburo. Paek Ryong-chon (49), who was appointed governor of the North Korean Central Bank last month, is the third son of Paek Nam-sun, the foreign minister from 1999 to 2007. Paek junior climbed up the career ladder rapidly from department chief at the Cabinet secretariat to central bank governor. Right after the party congress last September that saw Kim Jong-un make his first public appearance, the state-run TV showed two parts of a film titled "The Inheritance" that glamorized Choe Hyon and O Baek-ryong, who are believed to have been a key force in Kim Jong-il's victory over rivals for his father's succession. "In the 1970s when he competed with his uncle Kim Yong-ju and his stepbrother Kim Pyong-il to become successor, Kim Jong-il got a lot of help from the first-generation revolutionaries," a North Korean source said. "It seems that the regime is trying to use the descendants of these revered fighters to buffer the hereditary transition of power." Several of them are said to have sworn an oath in June last year to protect Kim Jong-un at the risk their own lives.

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China-Japan-Koreas

Where Is Kim Jong-il's Eldest Son?

2010-10-05

Probably in Havana giving the donkey show guided tour... [Chosun Ilbo] What is North Korean leader Vito Kim Jong-il's eldest son Fredo Jong-nam doing now that his younger brother Mike Jong-un has been confirmed as his father's successor? The unemployed Fredo Jong-nam has two wives and a mistress and three children living in Beijing and Macau. I'm your older brother, Mike nam , and I was stepped over! That's the way Pop wanted it. It ain't the way I wanted it! I can handle things! I'm schmart! Not like everybody says... like dumb... I'm schmart and I want respect! At the Dragon Villa on the northern outskirts of Beijing apparently lives his first wife Shin Jong-hui (late 30s) and son Kum-sol (13). His second wife Lee Hye-kyong (late 30s), son Han-sol (15) and daughter Sol-hui (12) live in Macau, as does his girlfriend So Yong-la (AKA:So Long-ya bum) (early 30s), who used to be a flight attendant for Air Koryo. Last Wednesday, it emerged that Fredo's Jong-nam's second wife and their two children live on the 12th floor of a modest, 20-year-old apartment in Macau, but nobody answered the doorbell. A junior high school girl living in the apartment said, "I used to meet the Kim siblings often, but I haven't seen them recently." When shown a photograph of Fredo Jong-nam, she said, "I saw him on the news, but I never saw him here." I have, however, seen Moe Yong Green... According to South Koreans in Macau, the couple are separated. Fredo Kim Jong-nam was rumored to enjoy late-night drinking sessions with his bodyguards and friends at another apartment in the old quarter of Macau, but a security guard in that building said, "I've never seen Fredo Kim Jong-nam. The only people who come here are foreign journalists looking for him." An international school in the new section of Macau's Taipa Island features the flags of around 60 countries including the North and South Korean flags. "The only North Korean who can afford to send his children to expensive foreign schools in Macau is Fredo Kim Jong-nam, and the North Korean flag means his children are attending this school," said one South Korean resident. Until this spring, the two children apparently lived in a new condo complex called Nova City around 500 m away from the school. But after Japanese reporters came to the school and began tailing the children, the family moved to a new address. Until three years ago, Fredo Jong-nam and his bodyguards went to the matresses lived in an apartment in the southern tip of Macau's Coloane Island. But the place now looks empty. Also, nobody recalled seeing Fredo Jong-nam at the housing area where his girlfriend So Yong-la is reportedly living. Workers at the casino, restaurant and lobby of the Altira Hotel, where Fredo Jong-nam was spotted by journalists in June this year, said they had not seen him recently. ...probably too busy banging cocktail waitresses two at a time. A South Korean who runs a restaurant in Macau said, "After the Cheonan sinking [in March], I saw Fredo Kim Jong-nam at the coffee shop of a top-notch VIP-only hotel. When he heard us speaking in Korean, he immediately got up and left. In the past, he used to say hello, but not any more." A South Korean intelligence official said Fredo Kim Jong-nam has apparently not been to Macau for months now and shuttles between China and another country. The official added Fredo Kim Jong-nam has a different mother from his two younger brothers, Mike Jong-un and Sonny Jong-chol, so his status in the family hierarchy is uncertain. Kim Pyong-il (56), Vito Kim Jong-il's half-brother, has been in virtual exile in Poland, where he is nominally the North Korean ambassador, since 1998. He'll be introduced in "Dear Leader IV"...

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China-Japan-Koreas

What Will Happen to Kim Jong-un's Brothers?

2010-09-30

[Chosun Ilbo] With North Korean hereditary supremo Kim Jong-il's third son Jong-un being effectively confirmed as heir to his father's leadership, pundits are wondering what will happen to his two older brothers. Kim Fredo Jong-nam (39) and Kim Jong-chol (29) appear to be facing contrasting fates. I'm guessing Fredo gets it behind the ear while fishing. I dunno about Kimmie Jong Chol. He may decide to enter a monastery or something. But Fredo's definitely toast. Jong-nam is only a half-brother to the other two, being the son of Kim Jong-il's ex-wife Song Hye-rim, who died in 2002, while Jong-chol and Jong-un are children of Kim Jong-il's third wife Ko Yong-hui, who died in 2004. Jong-nam was originally considered the favorite to succeed his father, but he fell into disgrace, apparently after telling the children of high-ranking North Korean officials in the late 1990s that he would pursue reforms if he became the next leader. Other factors were the defection to the West in 1996 of his aunt Song Hye-rang and his attempt to enter Japan on a forged Dominican passport. He has been living in virtual exile in China and Macau since 2001. Jong-nam was in Pyongyang between July and September 2008, when Kim Jong-il suffered a massive stroke, but has apparently been unable to return since January 2009, when Jong-un was tapped to succeed his father. "He could end up just like Kim Pyong-il, Kim Jong-il's half brother and North Korean ambassador to Poland, who has been in virtual exile for 20 years," said a South Korean government source. But Jong-chol may do better. The reason he was not chosen to succeed his father is believed to be his effeminate and passive personality. There are even rumors that he suffers from excessive amounts of the female hormone estrogen as a side effect of steroid abuse. Jong-chol was reportedly an avid fan of action star Jean Claude Van Damme and tried to emulate his muscular idol. He was captured on film by a Japanese broadcaster at an Eric Clapton concert in Germany in 2006, but unlike Jong-nam with his flamboyant lifestyle, has done nothing to catch the attention of the media. He also apparently maintains a close relationship with Jong-un, and the two are said to enjoy playing basketball with their teams of body guards. Both attended school in Switzerland between 1993 and 1998. All this suggests Jong-chol will not be exiled when Jong-un comes to power but probably be given a post.

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China-Japan-Koreas

Kimmie's Oldest Son 'Faces Perpetual Exile'

2010-03-10

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's eldest son Jong-nam has reportedly been excluded from his father's birthday celebrations for the second year running. "A family gathering was held to celebrate Kim Jong-il's 68th birthday on Tuesday, with third son Jong-un in attendance," a North Korean source said. "But there are no signs that Jong-nam flew to Pyongyang from Macau or China, where he lives." Just what North Korea needs, a bloody feudal war of succession ... Kim Jong-nam was in Pyongyang between July and September 2008 after his father collapsed with a massive stroke. But he has been living in exile since January 2009, when it appears his younger brother Jong-un was named as the successor to the leadership. A South Korean government source said, "Just like North Korean Ambassador to Poland Kim Pyong-il, Kim Jong-il's half brother, who has been unable to return to the North for more than 20 years, there's a sting chance that Kim Jong-nam faces lifelong exile." Kim Jong-nam fell into disgrace after he was caught by Japanese authorities in May 2001 for trying to enter the country on a forged passport but returned to Pyongyang for his father's birthday in February 2008 bearing gifts he purchased in Macau. He was also spotted at a neurosurgery hospital in Paris in October that year, just after the elder Kim suffered the stroke, which led to speculation that he was been chosen to succeed his father.

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China-Japan-Koreas

Kimmie's Oldest Son 'Faces Perpetual Exile'

2010-02-17

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's eldest son Jong-nam has reportedly been excluded from his father's birthday celebrations for the second year running. "A family gathering was held to celebrate Kim Jong-il's 68th birthday on Tuesday, with third son Jong-un in attendance," a North Korean source said. "But there are no signs that Jong-nam flew to Pyongyang from Macau or China, where he lives." Kim Jong-nam was in Pyongyang between July and September 2008 after his father collapsed with a massive stroke. But he has been living in exile since January 2009, when it appears his younger brother Jong-un was named as the successor to the leadership. A South Korean government source said, "Just like North Korean Ambassador to Poland Kim Pyong-il, Kim Jong-il's half brother, who has been unable to return to the North for more than 20 years, there's a sting chance that Kim Jong-nam faces lifelong exile." Kim Jong-nam fell into disgrace after he was caught by Japanese authorities in May 2001 for trying to enter the country on a forged passport but returned to Pyongyang for his father's birthday in February 2008 bearing gifts he purchased in Macau. He was also spotted at a neurosurgery hospital in Paris in October that year, just after the elder Kim suffered the stroke, which led to speculation that he was been chosen to succeed his father.

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