Path of Kim Jong-il’s other sons

It is like the story of a one-time crown prince called Yangnyeong at the beginning of the Joseon Dynasty. The eldest son who was initially deemed the next in throne loses his status to his younger brother after falling out of his father’s favor for misbehavior. The defamed, womanizing son goes into exile.

Only this time, in North Korea, the brothers’ country faces an opaque future.

Because he is the eldest, Jong-nam, born in 1971, was often considered the most likely son to succeed North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. That was until 2001 when he got caught trying to enter Japan on a fake Dominican passport bearing the name Pang Xiong which means “Fat Bear” in Chinese. He told the police that he wanted to go to Tokyo Disneyland, which greatly enraged his father. After several days of detention, Jong-nam was deported to China, making Kim Jong-il cancel a scheduled trip to China out of embarrassment to both countries.

Prior to the globally publicized 2001 incident, Jong-nam had reportedly made several secret visits to Japan, starting as early as 1995.

Several years after the eldest son’s fallout, speculation rose over whether the throne would go to second son Jong-chol, as it usually did during the Joseon Dynasty.

Unlike his elder brother who was tutored and educated in North Korea’s elite school, Jong-chol, born in 1981 to a different mother, was educated in Switzerland for five years until 1998.

It was only early last year that the outside world learned that the “Dear Leader” finally decided to pass on his legacy to the third and youngest son Jong-un, born in 1984.