{UAH} Allan/Gook/Pojim: North Korean leader’s half-brother killed by poison in Malaysia, reports claim

Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, at Narita airport near Tokyo in 2011. (Toshifumi Kitamura/AFP/Getty Images)
TOKYO — The older half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been killed in Malaysia by two female agents with "poison needles," South Korean media outlets reported Tuesday.

The reports — which could not be immediately be verified — said Kim's half-brother Kim Jong Nam was attacked at Kuala Lumpur airport Monday night by two women who fled the scene, according to accounts by South Korea's TV Chosun, a cable channel.

He died on the way to hospital, it said, citing an unidentified government source. South Korea's state-run Yonhap News Agency reported similar details.

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There was no such report on North Korea's tightly controlled media. But, if true, it would make another surprising twist in the tales of North Korea's leadership.

Kim Jong Nam, the oldest son of Kim Jong Il, the second generation leader of North Korea, was long thought to be his successor. But he fell into disgrace in the early 2000s after he was caught in Japan on a fake passport trying to go to Tokyo Disney.

His younger half-brother, Kim Jong Un, was declared heir apparent in 2010 and assumed the leadership upon Kim Jong Il's death at the end of 2011.

Two years later, the young North Korean leader had their uncle — and Kim Jong Nam's mentor, Jang Song Thaek — executed on suspicion of building an alternate power base.

Analysts have long suspected that China was keeping Kim Jong Nam — who was thought to have lived between Beijing, Singapore and Macau — in reserve as a potential successor to Kim Jong Un, who has had strained relations with the Chinese leadership.

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North Korean leader's half-brother killed by poison in Malaysia, reports claim - The Washington Post
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