North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un’s estranged brother murdered in Malaysia

The cause of death has not been made clear yet.

The report, citing what it called multiple government sources, said the two women hailed a cab and fled immediately afterwards.

South Korea’s state-run Yonhap News Agency reported similar details on the apparent targeted killing in Malaysia. He added that he was not interested in becoming North Korea’s next leader.

He was deported to China and estranged from his family.

His siblings: Kim is related by blood to Kim Jong Chul, a 35-year-old who apparently loves Eric Clapton and was deemed too “effeminate” to take over for his dad, and Kim Yo Jong, who worked in propaganda. He was rumored to have worked in computing in North Korea and money laundering operations across Southeast Asia, according to the Post.

Jong-nam was believed to have been in Macau, Singapore and Malaysia recently. He has now reportedly been murdered by “two female agents” who poisoned him in Kuala Lumpur. “He was originally going to succeed Kim Jong Il. We do not know his identity”, he said.

Jong-nam is survived by his son, Kim Han-sol, who is now a college student in France and has been under police protection since 2013.

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.

He replied that the appointment of a successor was his father’s decision. Some analysts suggest that Kim Jong-il instead chose to groom Jong-un for succession after his 2008 stroke because he favored his younger son’s mother, Ko Young-hee.

US Government sources said the Government strongly believes North Korean agents murdered Kim Jong-nam. A 2012 book by Japanese journalist Yoji Gomi, which drew on dozens of e-mails and interviews from him, quotes him as calling Kim Jong Un a mere figurehead.

“It’s another sign that Kim Jong Un is asserting his control over the regime – rather than the regime descending into chaos”, said Anwita Basu, lead analyst for North Korea at the Economist Intelligence Unit, in London. Kang is a distant relative of the Kim family. “A lot of North Korean revenues come from its arms dealings and its prowess as an arms technologist”, said Basu.

Officially, Beijing has voiced support for the North Korean succession. His mother was Song Hye Rim, a North Korean actress who was initially Kim Jong Il’s secret mistress.

The death comes a day after North Korea fired a ballistic missile over the Sea of Japan in a test, which interrupted a dinner between U.S. president Donald Trump and Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe. He said that Kim died on his way to the hospital. Predictably enough, the existence of an elder half-brother – and particularly a somewhat rebellious, free-wheeling one – has never been part of the North’s official leader narrative.

He was reportedly close to his uncle Jang Song-thaek, once the North’s unofficial number two and political mentor of the current leader.

Mr Foster-Carter also said gang activity is a possibility, saying it is conceivable Kim Jong-nam had gambling debits.

If an assassination is confirmed, it would be in keeping with the modus operandi of the North Korean regime. Kim Jong-nam died in an ambulance on his way to a hospital. He’s also older than Jong-un, and perhaps a potential rival if factions develop in Pyongyang seeking to depose Jong-un.