The man who could have inherited the throne in North Korea’s Communist dynasty instead lives a pampered life in the glitzy Asian gambling hub of Macau, all but banished by the country’s ruling elite.
The reclusive Stalinist state is preparing for its biggest political meeting in decades on Tuesday, with widespread speculation that leader Kim Jong-il will tap his youngest son, Kim Jong-un, for the top job.
That honor might have gone to Kim Jong-nam, 39, the North Korean leader’s eldest son, until he was exiled following a scandal in 2001 when he was caught entering Japan on a fake Dominican Republic passport — enraging his father.
Since then, Jong-nam has passed his days drinking and eating in the former Portuguese colony’s five-star restaurants, trying his luck at the gambling table and spending some of his US$500,000 annual allowance in the territory’s luxury brand stores.
He lives with his wife and two children in an upscale villa complex on Macau’s southern tip, a quiet enclave of pink-tiled houses overlooking the South China Sea — although his exact location proved elusive.
“Oh, the big son? Yes, he lives around here, but I’m not sure which one,” said a taxi driver pointing at rows of cookie-cutter homes.
An employee at the five-star Altira Hotel said the multilingual Kim — who learned English and French at a Swiss boarding school — drops by sometimes.
“I know Mr Kim, but I haven’t seen him today,” he said.
Wearing an untucked dress shirt and blue suede loafers, Jong-nam gave a brief interview to a South Korean reporter in June, denying reports he planned to defect to Europe and saying his reportedly ill father was in good health.
He splits his time between Macau and Beijing — where he also owns a home — while taking trips to Vienna, Bangkok and Moscow.
Like his father, Jong-nam is reportedly fond of the best that money can buy and has a second home in the city where he stays after late nights in one of his favorite karaoke bars or casinos. His three bodyguards live there too, reports said, while his mistress resides in a rented flat nearby.
The low-key son of North Korea’s leader, who has been spotted taking taxis or even the bus without an army of security, takes a keen interest in his family, including his 14-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter.
The family has gone on camping trips or jaunts around the city and even outdoor trips with the Lusophone Scouts, the international movement’s Portuguese-speaking affiliate.
“His wife is always very well dressed,” said Ricardo Pinto, publisher of Macau Closer magazine. “The kids had all sorts of iPods and other gadgets. He seems to like hanging around with friends at some of the Korean restaurants in town. And he likes to gamble, although he isn’t a high roller.”
Jong-nam is not invited to government events and is treated like a private citizen, Pinto said.
“He keeps a very low profile,” Pinto added.
In the late nineties, the eldest of Kim Jong-il’s three sons was the heir apparent, with his father giving him senior jobs in the country’s shrouded political structure. He even held key posts in its military.
In the mid-nineties, he was made a general and head of foreign counter-intelligence in the secret police.
But the failed bid to enter Japan — reportedly to visit Tokyo Disneyland — along with two women and his son derailed those plans after his angry father effectively barred him from ever taking the top job in Pyongyang.
Observers said Jong-nam’s resume makes him a better choice as North Korea’s next leader over his half brother — the pair were born to different mothers.
However, the eldest Kim, whose film-star mother died in 2002, shrugs off any talk of his appointment to North Korea’s highest office.
“If I were the successor, would you see me in Macau wearing these casual clothes and taking a holiday? I am only the son of Kim Jong-il,” he told a Japanese television reporter last year. “I am a North Korean citizen who has the right to live in Macau and China. To call me a fugitive from North Korea is completely incorrect.”
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