By This appears to be thinly sourced and it will be interesting to see if any more details come out from this:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s first son Kim Jong-nam survived an assassination attempt, according to South Korean news network KBS Monday.
KBS reported that the attempt was spearheaded by aides of the North’s heir apparent Kim Jeong-un, the 26-year-old third son of Kim who was recently designated to succeed the North’s head.
However, the plot that was tried out without the knowledge of Kim Jong-il failed as China foiled the attempt. KBS said Kim Jong-nam had maintained a close relationship with senior officials of China.
KBS said Kim Jong-nam could save his life with the help of China and added he might seek asylum in the world’s most populous country. [Korea Times]
You can read more here about Kim Jong-nam’s fall from grace.
If this assassination attempt is true this only further confirms my suspicions that the Chinese would much prefer Kim Jong-nam to succeed his father and there may be some behind the scenes shennanigans going on to make this happen, which percepetated this assassination attempt?
3:21 am on June 16th, 2009 1
I agree if this is true.
If I were a bigwig in Pyongyang, I’d be pissed off. I wouldn’t be so much because the younger brother tried to take the older out. I’d figure since I’m in the regime, using its internal logic, that only makes sense.
What I’d be pissed about is that they were unsuccessful. If they couldn’t do it, they shouldn’t have tried, because now, China has a very solid card to play if/when it tries to establish itself in North Korea post-collapse.
If the older brother wasn’t firmly planted in the Chinese camp, he should be now…
And if we consider China’s possible designs on North Korea for the future, it was actually a fairly necessary thing — taking the older son out.
They just should have been more competent.
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8:55 am on June 16th, 2009 2
[...] Here’s some other commentary. [...]
12:30 am on September 30th, 2009 3
[...] for further reading: In June, the ROK Drop blog was on this story immediately, but it is the same stalwart blog’s 2006 analysis of Kim Jong-nam and the China connection is [...]