Posted on 01/16/2012 2:14:05 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Kim Jong-nam Resurfaces in Beijing
Former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's eldest son Kim Jong-nam has resurfaced in Beijing a month after his father's death. He was spotted by South Koreans including Park Seung-jun, a professor of Chinese Language and Literature at Incheon University, waiting at Terminal 3 of Beijing Capital International Airport for an Air China flight to Macau on Saturday afternoon.
Kim Jong-nam was wearing a padded navy blue jacket, jeans and a light-blue baseball cap. He was alone.
Witnesses spotted Kim in the Air China business lounge searching the Internet on a computer. Asked if he had ever visited South Korea, Kim answered, "How can I go to [South] Korea?" Badgered by a businessman to write the words "peaceful reunification" on a piece of paper, Kim wrote in English, "peace."
Park and his companions ran into Kim again at the gate before he boarded Air China flight 3603 to Macau at 4:15 p.m. When Park asked him, "Aren't you Kim Jong-nam?" he replied, "Yes. Yes, that's right." Asked if he was on his way to Macau and whether he usually traveled alone, Kim replied, "I usually do. I travel by myself." The group asked him if he had been surprised by his father's sudden death, and Kim said, "It's only natural."
In response to the question whether he had attended his father's funeral, he mumbled a response. The group put it to him that as the eldest son he now finds himself with a responsibility to take care of his younger brothers, including heir to the leadership Kim Jong-un, and Kim Jong-nam replied, "I guess so."
Kim was said to have perspired a lot even though it was not very hot in the airport. He appeared nervous, constantly looking around as he waited in front of the gate and clutching a brown bag. His Korean sounded awkward and stilted. There were no bodyguards.
Kim is a frequent visitor to Beijing, where his first wife and son Kum-sol (15) live.
Diplomatic sources in Beijing say Kim Jong-nam was holed up at his home in Macau after his father's death and did not attend the funeral. His name was certainly not on the list of officials who attended. But his first wife Shin Jong-hui, who had apparently found favor in Kim Jong-il's eyes, and his son Kum-sol did apparently attend.
Last week, Japan's Tokyo Shimbun daily quoted an e-mail from Kim Jong-nam denouncing the dynastic power transfer in North Korea.
Better description would be that he wants to be spotted. It is probaly a staged chance encounter. With some risks, because there is a possibility that his half-brother's goons can spot him fist and finish him off. That may have made him nervous. I am pretty sure that Chinese agents were in the area, watching him closely.
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2012/01/13/2012011301402.html
Kim Jong-il's Eldest Son Attacks Dynastic Succession Again
The late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's eldest son Jong-nam, who was passed over for the leadership of the isolated country, has once again attacked the hereditary power succession, the Tokyo Shimbun reported Thursday.
"I expect the existing ruling elite to follow in the footsteps of my father while keeping the young successor as a symbolic figure," he was quoted as saying in an e-mail he sent the daily on Jan. 3.
"It's difficult to accept a third-generation succession with normal reasoning," he added. He also said he doubted that a young successor "with some two years of training can retain the absolute power" his father held for 37 years.
Kim Jong-nam, who lives in Macau, has not been seen in public since his father's death. Whether he attended his father's funeral is not known, and he did not mention it in the e-mail, the paper said.
In an interview with the Tokyo Shimbun in January last year, Kim had also criticized his younger brother's succession.
Declining a request for an e-mail interview on Dec. 19 last year, right after his father's death, Kim said there was a possibility of threats to his safety, according to the daily.
I don’t know, why would they want to stage an encounter? Does this guy matter anymore? Does he have any power?
I pity that poor guy.
It’s only a matter of time before Baby Kim decides that he’d really be more comfortable without any brothers that might cause problems later. Excedrin Headache No. 357 on order.
Nits make lice, you know. I mean, this poor guy seems to be a pretty harmless schmuck. Heck, he wanted to go to Disneyland. How dictator is that? But, Baby Kim won’t care about that. He’ll decide the smart thing is to tie off loose ends.
He is China’s plan B.
Family tradition. From grampa to dad to son. On the other hand, showing up often in public could be a Jong-nam's insurance plan. If a target becomes high profile, it gets more difficult to eliminate him. It could also serves as a public advertisement that he could be a better alternative if given a chance.
He is a good material for heading China’s puppet regime in N. Korea, if China decides to take over NK.
Maybe not now, but he would be hugely symbolic if he joined a NorK peace or reunification movement.
If he did that, despite the Nork government’s best attempts at blocking out info, it would eventually get to the people.
Yeah, I don’t think he’s going to be in any hurry to get back to the sunny streets of Pyongyang anytime soon.
But he’s probably not that welcome anywhere. China might be nice enough to keep him alive, but they have no reason to be especially generous. This guy is now a useless expense. He has nothing to offer and won’t.
He might be able to impose on Norodom Sihanouk, seeing how his Grandpa took care of him in North Korea back in the time from the end of the war until the restoration of the Cambodian Monarchy. but even if they did, they have no reason to be generous either. (I’m sure that Sihanouk’s expenses as a guest of The Great Leader were offset by donations from wealthy Cambodians abroad.)
Nobody’s going to want to pay this guy’s laundry bill.
Heck, he can’t even defect, Bamster would have a cow. He’s go totally freako at the thought of Baby Kim having a temper tantrum (not a pleasant thought, I agree).
Cuba might let him stay. Might even turn him into a real farmer. Somehow, I don’t think that idea would bother him in the slightest.
I agree that military brass in NK's ruling circle won't like him. He is too far from their taste. However, things can change.
Regarding China, it can use Jong-nam as their leverage against Jong-eun. NK regime has not been behaving the way they like for years. They need to hold onto every useful leverage they have. Jong-nam is a pesky thorn protected and kept alive by Chicom. One of Chicom's daggers pointed at Jong-eun. China has many daggers but leery of using them. It wants risk-free solution. They figure that, if they wait enough, it will emerge eventually somehow. I doubt it.
Note: He always gives very short answers. He also sometimes answers a question with a question. Someone has told him how to handle the press. I myself would like to have a word with him, too, actually.
It is in the Tsuruhashi Koreatown area of Osaka, and they razed the building some time ago. Here it is just a hard gravel corner lot, where people park several cars without asking. Some people occasionally piss in there when drunk at night, too.
This would be the ultimate sacrilege, which the North Korean people will never learn. That a) the mother of the new God-King is who she is and came over from Japan at the time of 11 in 1961 to be a dancer, and that b) her actually childhood home has been elminated completely and is now used for people to park on and also cavalierly and occasionally deposit piss upon, to the consternation of neighbors. As you well know, any locations where the Kim Dynasty were born, grew up, or whatever, are supposed to be held in highest esteemed as sacred ground. This photo of the lot and the story, in Korean, would be great material for the next anti-Kim Dynasty information flyer/balloon release up to North Korea from Munsan, don't you think?
I love big, puffed up myths brutal dictators create which are so easily stepped on, don't you.
I don’t think it was staged.
He has been seen travelling alone many times before to/from Macau. He just want to meet minimum obligation then go back to gambling in Macau.
His responses were non-committal.
To put his comments in context, he wasn’t saying that his dad’s death was natural.
He was saying that it was a surprise that it was so sudden. that sounds like to me his suspicion was that his father was murdered.
I begin to wonder if he shows up alone, fully expecting that somebody will notice him and strike a conversation with him.
OH OH I think we may have classic War of the Roses cross with Kill Bill Vol 1
I just want see that ending in regime
I can’t wait till South Park reset this family you know Matt and Trey probably looking into this
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.