Half-brother of Kim Jong-un ‘killed’ in Malaysia

Kim Jong-nam reportedly poisoned at Kuala Lumpur airport by female North Korean operatives, S Korean media says .The half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been killed in Malaysia, the Yonhap News Agency and other South Korean media outlets reported on Tuesday, citing unidentified sources.

Yonhap, citing a South Korean government source, said Kim Jong-nam was killed on Monday morning in Malaysia. It gave no more details.

TV Chosun, a cable television network, said separately that Kim was poisoned at Kuala Lumpur airport by two women believed to be North Korean operatives, who were at large, citing multiple South Korean government sources.

The reports could not be independently verified.

Malaysian police told the Reuters news agency an unidentified North Korean man died en route to hospital from a Kuala Lumpur airport.

The police said the man’s identity had not been verified.

Kim Jong-nam and Kim Jong-un are both sons of former leader Kim Jong-il, who died in late 2011, but they had different mothers.

In 2001, Kim Jong-nam was caught at an airport in Japan travelling on a fake passport, saying he had wanted to visit Tokyo Disneyland. He was known to travel to Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China.

He said several times over the years that he had no interest in leading his country.

“Personally, I am against third-generation succession,” he told Japan’s Asahi TV in 2010, before his younger brother had succeeded their father.

“I hope my younger brother will do his best for the sake of North Koreans’ prosperous lives.”

Al Jazeera 

UM– USEKE.RW