Posted on 01/31/2007 7:06:29 PM PST by NormsRevenge
HONG KONG (AFP) - The eldest son of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il has been living the high life in southern China's casino haven Macau for most of the past three years, a media report has said.
Kim Jong-nam, 35, and his family have made their home on the territory's leafy Coloane island, and he has been spotted dining in fine restaurants and gambling in the plush casinos, the South China Morning Post reported here.
He has apparently been living untroubled despite a crackdown by the United States on the tiny city's financial links with the Pyongyang regime.
North Korea is one of the most impoverished and reclusive countries in the world and has relied on food aid for much of the past decade to feed many of its 23 million people.
At the same time it runs a nuclear weapons programme that saw it test its first atomic device last October. Six-nation talks on dismantling that drive are due to resume February 8 in Beijing.
"He's been on the move for much of the decade, but Macau is the place he calls home now," a source told the South China Morning Post.
"He's been free to stay as long as he lives quietly. He believes he is among friends and he appears to be happy."
The report, compiled after a six-week investigation, said that while the young Kim had been living in and out of top hotels in the former Portuguese enclave, his wife and children had been based in a luxury Coloane villa.
It said he travels overseas on Dominican Republic and Portuguese passports.
He had also made regular visits to Hong Kong, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) to the east, but was refused entry on his most recent trip amid international condemnation of October's weapons test, the report added.
His most recent overseas trip took him to Beijing for a health check-up, it added.
Macau's long links with North Korea have been under scrutiny since one of its banks, Banco Delta Asia, was accused of laundering some of the proceeds of Pyongyang's international counterfeit operations.
Some 24 million dollars of the bank's assets were frozen in late 2004 and its management placed under the control of the Macau government following the US Treasury claims.
Reports at the time also linked the cash funnelled through Macau to North Korea's nuclear programme.
"Macau has been trying hard to finally play its part ... the fact that the young Mr Kim has been using the place as his base puts them in a very difficult position," a western diplomatic source was quoted as saying.
The Post report said the Macau government had yet to comment and that the North Korean consulate in Hong Kong knew nothing of Kim's presence in Macau.
Kim Jong-Nam, the eldest son of reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, at Narita International airport near Tokyo. He has been living the high life in southern China's casino haven Macau for most of the past three years, a media report has said.(AFP/File/Toshifumi Kitamura)
Gets uglier every time I see him
Low-profile high life: Kim Jong-nam - the eldest son of
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il - has been living with his
family in Macau for the past three years. The fact he has
been using the city as his base puts Macau's government
in a difficult position, one diplomat says. Photo: AP
OH TIGER Chia Pet fat little boy is living high life ROFL
Damn, thats one ugly family..
If he disappeared, would he be worth abandoning nuclear weapons to his daddy? Granted, it would be the greatest "Mission: Impossible" ever done, but what price is worth stopping nuclear proliferation?
And, of course, once we have him, we could use the most subtle and amazing technologies ever devised to, shall we say, change his mind about things? Perhaps turn him into "The McLean, Virginia Candidate".
He's gotta nasty daddy. Where's Mrs. Kim?
If I were Japanese, I would kidnap him and hold him for ransom.
This is Kim elderst son his first born
First MRS Chia Pet she is dead because of cancer
Wow, the original pot-bellied pig.
Gee, the next “Dear Leader”.
EEEK! There's a freak of nature if I ever saw one.
I didn't realize he had a "son", looks more like an attempt at cloning. still ugly as Satans @ss, despite the slight improvement over the origional.
It's hard to tell if this one is shorter or taller than the first Kim Dong Il.
Stick a shark fin on him and toss him overboard near those Japanese whalers hunting near New Zealand. If anything, they'll be able to smelt some blubber off him and run the boats engines off it for the trip home...
Yup that kid now he is all grown up ROFL
YES HE IS Scott Evil ROFL
Is this the one with excess female hormones? Looks like he didn't receive the traditional N.K. treebark diet.
Nice. This ugly POS is living like a saudi prince while 95% of his country has to eat grass to survive.
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.