North Korea: Kim Jong-un's half-brother and rival spotted in Malaysia
After hiding out in Macau, Kim Jong-nam may have found a new place to shelter
The older half-brother of Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, has surfaced in Malaysia after apparently going into hiding following the execution of his uncle and guardian in December.
Kim Jong-nam has been sighted at a Korean restaurant in Kuala Lumpur, according to Japan's Yomiuri newspaper, a little over a month after Jang Song-thaek was publically purged in Pyongyang and subsequently executed.
Mr Kim, 42, was reportedly close to his uncle and it is understood that Mr Jang funnelled funds to him through business contacts and the North Korean embassy in Malaysia.
Analysts believe he had good reason to have gone into hiding in the aftermath of the purge of Mr Jang and dozens of his closest allies in North Korea's business and diplomatic communities.
Mr Kim survived an assassination attempt in 2011, around the time of the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, when he was living in Macau. Pyongyang-watchers believe that Kim Jong-un was attempting to do away with his half-brother to consolidate his own claim to the leadership of North Korea.
Previously, Mr Kim had been widely seen as the heir to the communist world's only hereditary dynasty but fell out of favour when he was detained in 2001 trying to enter Japan on a forged passport with a woman and a child. He told authorities that he wanted to visit Disneyland.
He has since lived in exile in Macau, China, Singapore and now Malaysia.
"Mr Kim has been the target of an attempt on his life in the past and it would be reasonable for him to think he is still at risk," Toshimitsu Shigemura, a professor at Tokyo's Waseda University and an authority on North Korean affairs, told The Telegraph.
"He usually tries to stay in China, but there are many North Korean agents in China now and he clearly felt he was at risk again," Professor Shigemura said.
"In Malaysia, it may be easier for him to hide. Kim Jong-un wants him dead because he knows many secrets about him and Pyongyang, but also because he fears that Kim Jong-nam could serve as the focal point of a coup against his rule," the professor said.
There are long-standing suggestions that China has been protecting Kim Jong-nam as a future North Korean leader, should an accident befall Kim Jong-il or an uprising unseat him. Mr Kim is considered the sole legitimate candidate due to the need to continue the family line.
