1. Kim Jong-nam was exiled from North Korea c 2003, becoming an occasional critic of his family's regime.
32 Facts About Kim Jong-nam
1. 2.
The Wall Street Journal on 10 June 2019 reported that former US officials stated that Kim Jong-nam had been a CIA source.
3.
Kim Jong-nam was born on 10 May 1971 in Pyongyang, North Korea, to Song Hye-rim, one of four women known to have had children with Kim Jong Il.
4.
Kim Jong-nam was reported to have had a personality similar to that of his father, and was described by his aunt as being "hot-tempered, sensitive, and gifted in the arts".
5.
Kim Jong-nam's aunt said in 2000 that he "[did] not wish to succeed his father".
6.
Kim Jong-nam's father created a small movie set for him to use.
7.
Kim Jong-nam made several clandestine visits to Japan, starting as early as 1995.
8.
In 1998, Kim Jong-nam was appointed to a senior position in the Ministry of Public Security of North Korea, as a future leader.
9.
Kim Jong-nam was reported to have been appointed head of the North Korean Computer Committee, in charge of developing an information technology industry.
10.
In May 2001, Kim Jong-nam was arrested in Japan on arrival at Narita International Airport, accompanied by two women and a four-year-old boy identified as his son.
11.
Kim Jong-nam was traveling on a forged Dominican Republic passport using a Chinese alias, Pang Xiong.
12.
Until the Tokyo incident, Kim Jong-nam was expected to become leader of the country after his father.
13.
In late 2003, it was reported that Kim Jong-nam was living in Macau, lending strength to this belief.
14.
However, Kim Jong-nam himself claimed that he had fallen out of favor due to advocating for reform.
15.
Kim Jong-nam used to be the only member of the Kim family to ever speak directly to media outside of North Korea, until Kim Jong Un took a question from a foreign journalist during the 2019 North Korea - United States Hanoi Summit.
16.
The Asahi Shimbun reported that Kim Jong-nam, while traveling to see his brother Kim Jong-chul in Munich, survived an assassination attempt at the Budapest Ferihegy International Airport in July 2006.
17.
South Korean television and the South China Morning Post reported in 2007 that Kim Jong-nam had a Portuguese passport.
18.
However, Portuguese authorities and the Portuguese consul in Macau, Pedro Moitinho de Almeida, stated that if Kim Jong-nam had such a document, it would be a forgery.
19.
In January 2009, Kim Jong-nam said that he had "no interest" in taking power in North Korea after his father, stating that it is only for his father to decide.
20.
In June 2010, Kim Jong-nam gave a brief interview to the Associated Press in Macau while waiting for a hotel elevator.
21.
Kim Jong-nam said that he had "no plans" to defect to Europe, as the press had recently rumored.
22.
Kim Jong-nam lived in an apartment on the southern tip of Macau's Coloane Island until 2007.
23.
An anonymous South Korean official reported in October 2010 that Kim Jong-nam had not lived in Macau for "months", and shuttled between China and "another country".
24.
On 1 January 2012, it was reported that Kim Jong-nam secretly flew to Pyongyang from Macau on 17 December 2011, after learning about his father's death that day and was presumed to have accompanied Kim Jong Un when paying his last respects to their father.
25.
Kim Jong-nam left after a few days to return to Macau and was not in attendance at the funeral to avoid speculation about the succession.
26.
On 14 January 2012, Kim Jong-nam was seen in Beijing waiting for an Air China flight to Macau.
27.
Kim Jong-nam confirmed his identity to a group of South Koreans, which included a professor at Incheon University and told them that he usually travels alone.
28.
Kim Jong-nam stated, "Without reforms, North Korea will collapse, and when such changes take place, the regime will collapse".
29.
Kim Jong-nam left Macau on suspicions that he was being targeted for assassination by Kim Jong Un; South Korean authorities had formerly indicted a North Korean agent, Kim Yong-su, who confessed to planning an attack on Kim Jong-nam in July 2010.
30.
On 10 June 2019, the Wall Street Journal, citing former US officials, stated that Kim Jong-nam had been a CIA source.
31.
On 13 February 2017, Kim Jong-nam died after being exposed to VX nerve agent at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia.
32.
Kim Jong-nam was sentenced to three years and four months in prison, but received a one-third reduction in her term, and was released on 3 May 2019.