Kim Jong-un had him assassinated in public. This is the untold story of his half brother Kim Jong-Nam.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00They are using all these beautiful ladies, it's the biggest weapon.
00:04Kim Jong-un had him assassinated in public.
00:07This is the story of Kim Jong-nam,
00:09the half-brother who was supposed to be the supreme leader of North Korea.
00:30Hello, everyone.
00:35This week I'll be telling you the story of an assassination
00:38that made headlines around the world.
00:40In 2017, at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia,
00:43two women spread the North Korean dictator's half-brother with a neurotoxic agent.
00:48With this act, Kim Jong-un sends a strong message.
00:50He proves that he can strike anywhere, anytime,
00:53and even against his own family members.
01:00It's the morning of February 13th, 2017,
01:03at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, the capital of Malaysia.
01:07Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of the Korean dictator Kim Jong-un,
01:11is traveling under the false name Kim Chol.
01:25As he waits for his flight to Macau,
01:27he is approached by a young woman.
01:30Moments later, a second woman approaches him from behind
01:33and presses a cloth soaked in liquid onto his face.
01:42Feeling dizzy, Kim Jong-nam heads to the information counter to seek help.
01:47Taken to the airport clinic, he starts convulsing.
01:55To understand how we got here, let's first take a little flashback.
02:00Kim Jong-nam was born in 1971 in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea.
02:30This dynasty is made up of three leaders.
02:32Kim Il-sung, who was the first leader of North Korea,
02:36followed by Kim Jong-il, his son, and Kim Jong-un, the current leader.
02:41Kim Jong-nam is the product of an affair
02:43between North Korean actress Song Hee-rim and Kim Jong-il,
02:47the son of the founder of the North Korean regime, Kim Il-sung.
03:00As a high-ranking official of the regime,
03:03Kim Jong-il threatens to execute anyone who speaks of his private life.
03:06Kim Jong-nam grows up out of the public eye,
03:08but shares privileged moments with his father.
03:10Using fake passports, they visit amusement parks in Japan.
03:30By the late 1980s, Kim Jong-il distances himself from Kim Jong-nam's mother
03:48and marries a dancer named Ko Young-hee.
03:51Together, they have three children, including Kim Jong-un.
04:00As a teenager, Kim Jong-nam leaves North Korea to Geneva to continue his studies.
04:21In 1994, Kim Il-sung dies. His son, Kim Jong-il, takes over.
04:30Kim Jong-il has had several decades to prepare for his arrival in power.
04:38He has been able to climb the ladder, to have extremely important positions,
04:42and so the fact that he is the successor was, in quotes, an achievement.
04:46In 1994, Kim Il-sung dies. His son, Kim Jong-il, takes over.
04:52Kim Jong-nam was indeed sent to take over North Korea.
04:58But Kim Jong-il was quite disappointed by the way he managed the posts he was entrusted with.
05:04He was a bit of a disgrace.
05:12The North Korean leaders, especially Kim Jong-un when he was young,
05:16and Kim Jong-nam, have met several times in Japan and at Disneyland.
05:22As the eldest son of the Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-nam is destined to lead North Korea upon his father's death.
05:30Accompanied by two women and his four-year-old son, he attempts to visit Disneyland in Japan.
05:36Upon arrival at the Tokyo airport, he is arrested by Japanese authorities with fake Dominican passports.
05:42After a few days in detention, he is finally released.
05:46Humiliated on the national stage, his father cancels a diplomatic trip to China.
05:50Kim Jong-nam is definitively sidelined from the succession race.
05:54Kim Jong-il was extremely unhappy.
05:57But that was not the only reason why Kim Jong-nam was disgraced.
06:02In fact, he felt perfectly unsuitable for North Korea.
06:06And it was at that moment that he wanted to exile in Macau.
06:10When Kim Jong-il dies in 2011, it is his third son, Kim Jong-un, who succeeds him.
06:33Kim Jong-un is now in power.
06:38When Kim Jong-un comes to power, he must demonstrate his authority and his ability to ensure the stability of the regime.
06:46And one of the striking events is the way in which the young leader got rid of his uncle, Jang Song-thaek,
06:54who had actually become the number two of the regime, who had become extremely influential.
06:59Jang Song-thaek took too much importance.
07:02He was very much in favor of an opening policy, an economic opening.
07:07He has accumulated a lot of money.
07:10He used his personal connections abroad and Kim Jong-un took advantage of it.
07:16There was a demonstration in December 2013 when Kim Jong-un got rid of his uncle in an extremely media-friendly, extremely symbolic way.
07:27We see Jang Song-thaek, his head down, being arrested in the middle of a meeting.
07:32Accused of plotting a coup, Jang Song-thaek is sentenced to death in a summary trial.
07:37A few days later, Kim Jong-un has his uncle executed by machine gun.
07:42The execution of Jang Song-thaek was staged as a real play.
07:50It was a real message.
07:52This message was intended for all North Koreans abroad to tell them,
07:57be careful, don't betray me because I am capable of executing a traitor even within my own family.
08:09When Kim Jong-un comes to power, Kim Jong-nam is still living in exile in Macau with his family.
08:15Some friends in Macau and Hong Kong who visited him talk about Kim Jong-nam as a good man who enjoyed life,
08:25who enjoyed playing with money, but who didn't really want to replace Kim Jong-un.
08:33On several occasions, Kim Jong-nam speaks to the Japanese press about his half-brother's rise to power.
08:46It was a first camouflage that Kim Jong-un didn't appreciate.
08:51Kim Jong-nam expressed himself in a way that was a bit too visible on the North Korean regime and on the exercise of his brother's power.
09:03North Korean leaders don't like to be told their secrets, and Kim Jong-nam began to be too loquacious.
09:10Kim Jong-nam benefited from the protection of foreign services.
09:14It has been proven that he had contacts with Park Geun-hye, who was the president of South Korea,
09:20and he was also suspected of having ties with the CIA.
09:25So all these slightly hidden ties with South Korea, the foreigners, these slightly too open statements,
09:32have displeased Kim Jong-un, hence this reason to eliminate him.
09:38At Kuala Lumpur International Airport's clinic, Kim Jong-nam is convulsing.
09:44He is declared dead upon arrival at the hospital.
09:57The autopsy will reveal that Kim Jong-nam was poisoned with VX, an extremely potent neurotoxic agent.
10:08The two women who sprayed him with the toxic agent were arrested shortly after.
10:15The investigation will reveal they were duped by North Korean secret agents.
10:20They thought they were pranking their victim for a reality TV show.
10:25They are using always beautiful ladies as the biggest weapon.
10:29This is a propaganda tool, so even the spies.
10:32Two years after the assassination, they were released by Malaysian authorities.
10:37To this day, no one has been convicted for the murder of Kim Jong-nam.
10:41The North Korean authorities spotted on the surveillance video managed to flee.
10:45For his part, Kim Jong-un has never claimed responsibility for the assassination.
10:55From the moment a person in a family is suspected of treason,
11:01his entourage and his family are also guilty.
11:25I'm currently with my mother and my sister.
11:29We hope this gets better soon.
11:33It is obvious that Kim Jong-nam's son is in danger.
11:41We don't know where he is.
11:43We know he studied in Sciences Po in France.
11:46He lives anonymously abroad in fear of a North Korean attack.
12:16For more UN videos visit www.un.org