The late Kim Jong-nam. (Photo : Getty Images)
Kim Jong-nam, half brother to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un and eldest son of former dictator Kim Jong-il, was murdered by North Korean agents at the Sepang District in the state of Selangor in Malaysia on Feb. 13, said the South Korean government.
Oddly, the Royal Malaysia Police said Jong-nam died from "sudden causes" but refused to elaborate what this meant. Jong-nam, 45, was apparently poisoned despite his being protected by bodyguards.
Jong-nam has long been critical of Jong-un, once saying his younger brother "won't last long" because of his youth and inexperience.
South Korean political observers noted that only the highest authority in North Korea, meaning his younger brother Jong-un, would have had the gall to order Jong-nam's assassination in a foreign country.
Jong-nam is survived by two sons and a daughter, as well as a sister and two-half brothers, including Jong-un.
South Korean media quoting a South Korean government official said Jong-nam was assassinated at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang by two unidentified women -- apparently North Korean agents -- wielding poisoned needles. The assassins have not been caught.
Jong-nam has been estranged from Jong-un since he fled North Korea in 2003 after a falling out with his late father. After his father's death in 2011, Jong-nam was said to have been considered for the post of Supreme Leader but was dropped because of an embarrassing incident in 2003 in Japan.
South Korean political analysts said that if Jong-nam was indeed murdered by North Korean assassins, it indicates his brother still suffers from a sense of paranoia about his own future and wanted to remove any potential successors.
Murdering his opponents has become normal for Jong-un. The deranged dictator had some 50 officials executed in 2014 on charges as petty as watching South Korean soap operas. Two senior officials were blown to pieces by anti-aircraft guns on Jong-un's orders.
Jong-un had his own uncle (his mother's brother) and one-time deputy, Jang Song Thaek, murdered in 2013.
