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| Kim Jong-un’s Half Brother Is Reported Assassinated in Malaysia | Kim Jong-un’s Half Brother Is Reported Assassinated in Malaysia |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| SEOUL, South Korea — The estranged half brother of Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, was assassinated in Malaysia this week, South Korean news outlets reported on Tuesday, citing an unidentified government source. | |
| The half brother, Kim Jong-nam, 45, was killed by two women who attacked him with poison needles at a Kuala Lumpur airport on Monday, TV Chosun, South Korea’s all-news channel, reported without identifying its source. The news agency Yonhap also reported the killing, without confirming any of those details. | The half brother, Kim Jong-nam, 45, was killed by two women who attacked him with poison needles at a Kuala Lumpur airport on Monday, TV Chosun, South Korea’s all-news channel, reported without identifying its source. The news agency Yonhap also reported the killing, without confirming any of those details. |
| TV Chosun said that the women fled in a taxi after the attack and that the local police were searching for them. | |
| South Korea’s National Intelligence Service and its Unification Ministry said they could not immediately confirm the report. | South Korea’s National Intelligence Service and its Unification Ministry said they could not immediately confirm the report. |
| Reports of the killing come amid a period of turmoil in the upper ranks of North Korea’s leadership. The chief of the North’s powerful secret police, long considered the right-hand man for Kim Jong-un, was recently dismissed on charges of corruption and abuse of power, according to the South Korean government. | |
| In Kuala Lumpur, a government official said that workers and the police at Kuala Lumpur International Airport had found a man who was ill on Monday and that he had died after being taken to the hospital. The official said the authorities were awaiting the results of an autopsy. | |
| Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of the deceased North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, was once considered the heir to power in the dynastic regime in Pyongyang. But he was believed to have hobbled his chance of becoming leader when he was caught in 2001 while trying to take his son to Tokyo Disneyland with a fake visa. He was detained for several days before being deported to China. | |
| Other analysts in South Korea say that Kim Jong-nam fell out of the succession race after his mother, Sung Hae-rim, was rejected by the North Korean leader, who favored Kim Jong-un’s mother, Ko Young-hee. Ms. Ko and Kim Jong-il had another son, Kim Jong-chol, who was seen at an Eric Clapton concert in London in 2015. | Other analysts in South Korea say that Kim Jong-nam fell out of the succession race after his mother, Sung Hae-rim, was rejected by the North Korean leader, who favored Kim Jong-un’s mother, Ko Young-hee. Ms. Ko and Kim Jong-il had another son, Kim Jong-chol, who was seen at an Eric Clapton concert in London in 2015. |
| North Korea began actively grooming Kim Jong-un as heir after his father had a stroke in 2008. As his youngest brother consolidated his power, Kim Jong-nam lived in semi-exile abroad. Until recently, he had sometimes been seen in Macau. TV Chosun said he had also been visiting Singapore and Malaysia, where he had girlfriends. | |
| Like his half brother, Kim Jong-nam spent time in Switzerland as a teenager. | Like his half brother, Kim Jong-nam spent time in Switzerland as a teenager. |
| Mr. Kim was once questioned in Macau by a reporter about the likelihood that his brother would take over the leadership of North Korea, and he seemed to accept his fate. | Mr. Kim was once questioned in Macau by a reporter about the likelihood that his brother would take over the leadership of North Korea, and he seemed to accept his fate. |
| “It is my father’s decision,” he said. “So, once he decides, we have to support.” | “It is my father’s decision,” he said. “So, once he decides, we have to support.” |
| But Mr. Kim also once predicted doom for his half brother’s rule while talking to reporters from Japan, North Korea’s sworn enemy. His criticism had fueled speculation that China and certain generals in Pyongyang might be protecting him in case anything should go wrong with Kim Jong-un’s rule. | |
| Officially, Beijing has voiced support for the North Korean succession. | Officially, Beijing has voiced support for the North Korean succession. |
| Speculation quickly spread in South Korea on Tuesday that Kim Jong-un might be behind the reported death of his half brother. TV Chosun said that the North Korean leader appeared to have sent agents to assassinate his eldest sibling, considering him a potential threat to his rule. | Speculation quickly spread in South Korea on Tuesday that Kim Jong-un might be behind the reported death of his half brother. TV Chosun said that the North Korean leader appeared to have sent agents to assassinate his eldest sibling, considering him a potential threat to his rule. |
| On Tuesday, a spokesman for South Korea’s governing Liberty Korea Party, Kim Myung-yeon, issued a statement saying that the killing was a “naked example of Kim Jong-un’s reign of terror.” | |
| Since taking power, Mr. Kim has executed scores of senior party and military officials deemed a threat to his authority. | Since taking power, Mr. Kim has executed scores of senior party and military officials deemed a threat to his authority. |
| Relatives were not spared. An uncle and the country’s No. 2 official, Jang Song-thaek, was executed in 2013 on charges of factionalism, corruption and plotting to overthrow the government. | Relatives were not spared. An uncle and the country’s No. 2 official, Jang Song-thaek, was executed in 2013 on charges of factionalism, corruption and plotting to overthrow the government. |
| Defectors from North Korea, especially those who speak out against the Pyongyang regime, live in fear of retaliation. In 1997, Lee Han-young, a nephew of a former wife of Kim Jong-il, was shot and killed in Seoul. South Korean officials suspected that a North Korean agent killed Mr. Lee, who had become a bitter critic of the government in Pyongyang after defecting to Seoul in 1982. | Defectors from North Korea, especially those who speak out against the Pyongyang regime, live in fear of retaliation. In 1997, Lee Han-young, a nephew of a former wife of Kim Jong-il, was shot and killed in Seoul. South Korean officials suspected that a North Korean agent killed Mr. Lee, who had become a bitter critic of the government in Pyongyang after defecting to Seoul in 1982. |
| Cheong Seong-chang, a longtime researcher on the Kim family, said that the killing of Kim Jong-nam could happen only with the order of Kim Jong-un. Mr. Cheong speculated that the North’s leader might have become angry over a recent South Korean news report that his half brother had once tried to defect to the South. |