NK leader's eldest says he's not interested in succession

BEIJING, Jan. 24 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's first son, Kim Jong-nam, said Saturday that his father alone can decide on the succession of power in the communist country and he himself has no interest in becoming a successor.

"I myself have no interest," Kim Jong-nam, 38, said in a Beijing hotel. "That is
for my father to decide."
Kim Jong-nam arrived in Beijing from Pyongyang by air along with a high-level
Chinese official, Wang Jiarui, who met with the North Korean leader in Pyongyang
on Friday.
The eldest son was believed to be the heir-apparent until his controversial
behavior -- such as a failed attempt to sneak into Japan in 2001 using a fake
passport, apparently to tour Disney Land -- reportedly angered his father.
"No one can say positively (how Kim will decide on his successor) ... only my
father will decide," Kim told reporters earlier when he arrived at an airport in
the Chinese capital. He was clad in a thick jumper, sunglasses and a cap.
Intelligence sources told Yonhap that his 25-year old half-brother, Jong-un, has
been named as the heir apparent.
Kim Jong-nam said that he had no information related to the report that Jong-un
was tapped as his father's successor, telling reporters that "it is not right to
make assumptions when nothing has been decided."
When asked by reporters whether he holds great influence in North Korea, he said,
"That is not so." He also said that he cannot "answer such sensitive questions"
when asked if he has won the support of his uncle Jang Song-taek, Kim Jong-il's
brother-in-law, in the successor competition.
"Don't just ask me (on the succession plan), ask Mr. Wang Jiarui too," the son
said at the airport in an apparent effort to dodge further questions.
Sources well-informed on North Korea recently said that Kim Jong-il, apparently
driven by his poor health condition from a suspected stroke last year, has
recently designated his third son, Jong-un, as his successor and delivered a
directive on the nomination to the Workers' Party leadership.
Jong-un, now 25, was born to Kim's third wife, Ko Yong-hi, who died of breast
cancer at the age of 51 in 2004. The youngest of Kim's three sons, Jong-un was
educated at the International School of Berne and is known to be a fan of
professional U.S. basketball. After his return to Pyongyang in his late teens,
the North has kept him under a shroud of secrecy and very little is known about
his character.
When asked about the state of his father's health, Jong-nam, who said he was in
Beijing for personal matters, declined to comment on "such a sensitive issue."
"Please understand that I cannot disclose anything even if I have any
information," the eldest son said, underlining that it is his principle to
exercise discretion on his father's health.
He said that he plans to stay in Beijing for a couple of days and return to North
Korea in a few weeks after spending some time in a third country, without
revealing where.
Jong-nam, the son of the North Korean leader's second wife, Song Hye-rim, had
been adrift abroad, mostly in China, since 2002, when he was expelled from Narita
airport in Japan for apparently trying to visit Disneyland in Tokyo along with
his son and wife.
The eldest son, however, is reported to have won the support of Jang Song-taek,
the elder Kim's brother in law, in the competition to become the successor.
He is also speculated to have established connections with high-profile Chinese
officials from his frequent trips to Beijing, which may contribute to the forming
of stronger ties between the communist allies.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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