Kim Jong-nam

Kim Jong-nam (Korean: 김정남, Korean: [kim.dzɔŋ.nam]; 10 May 1971 – 13 February 2017) was the eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. From roughly 1994 to 2001, he was considered the heir apparent to his father. In 2017, Kim was assassinated in Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia; North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, his half-brother, was widely believed responsible. Kim was speculated to have fallen out of favor in 2001 following his deportation from Japan to China while attempting to visit Tokyo Disneyland on a forged passport; Kim claimed his fall was due to advocating "reform and market-opening".

Kim reportedly spent his childhood in international schools in the Soviet Union and Switzerland before returning to North Korea in 1988. Kim was exiled from North Korea around 2003; he settled in Macau, becoming an occasional critic of his family's regime. He gained a reputation for gambling and drinking as an "international playboy". In 2006, Kim reportedly survived an assassination attempt at Budapest Ferihegy International Airport while visiting his brother Kim Jong Chul. His younger paternal half-brother, Kim Jong Un, was named heir apparent in September 2010. In 2012, he survived an assassination attempt in Macau, after which he fled to Singapore.

On 13 February 2017, Kim was assassinated with the nerve agent VX in Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia, widely believed to have been perpetrated by agents of North Korea's Reconnaissance General Bureau. US newspapers later reported Kim as a likely Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) source; Kim's son Kim Han-sol has since been under the protective custody of the CIA and is reportedly living in the United States.