An acid would surely be one of the most *ineffective *ways to kill someone, especially quickly.
I doubt that leaving Kim Jong Nam’s identity obscured (by disfiguring him) would be in North Korea’s interest. I suspect the regime would want Jong Nam’s death to be widely publicized, as a worldwide warning for defectors in hiding who would speak out against the regime. Unless the regime still has other targets to kill, in which case it would make sense to keep this assassination under wraps.
I’m a bit surprised. It didn’t seem like the older brother had any interest in ever returning to N Korea. He was living the good life traveling and being a playboy.
Imagine Jimmy Carter worrying that Billy Carter wanted his job. Billy was the black sheep, peeing on airport runways and selling Billy beer. Basically life was one drunken party for Billy.
But, I guess N Korea is capable of doing practically anything. Their leaders paranoia knows no bounds.
“Loss of face”. Heh.
Wasn’t Jong Nam speaking out frequently against the regime though? If he had just been living life as a playboy oaf, maybe the regime wouldn’t care, unless his behavior was an embarassment to the regime.
Silly Sequential Threads:
"No, you can’t live here."
“Kim Jong-nam Murdered”
"Things that are weirdly satisfying…"
Surely they could have quietly disappeared him if all they wanted to do was to get rid of him. Killing him in a very public (and high risk due to the presence of security cameras and guards) place like an airport seems designed to send a message, like a Mafia hit.
Likely he was killed, not because of speaking out against the regime, but because he had a “claim” to the “throne”. The legitimacy of his younger half-brother’s current rule of North Korea is based on blood ties to the founder of the state. It was barely plausible that China might’ve tried to depose the current ruler in his favor. Other relatives have been murdered/disappeared, etc. Any remaining ones are still at risk.
Approximately 45,000 out of 10 million, as of last count. And they speak Spanish. Did KJN?
I see Buzzfeed is expanding the business.
Or “Last Outing, Loser!”.
There is genuine concern for Kim Jong Nam’s son, who gave a pretty frank interview in 2012.
I would bet his life is in real danger right now.
It’s possible that the assassins were led to believe they were participating in a Candid Camera-style practical joke. The LOL shirt fits with that, though the fact that they weren’t poisoned themselves does not.
When reading the first reports, this was my thought.
It’s takes a special kind of stupid for a person anywhere today to agree to a prank at an airport. Of course it also takes a special kind of stupid to come up with such a lame defense. I’m going with they knew damn well what they were doing.
I’ve seen speculation that this is likely a sign of increasing instability in North Korea:
Kim Jong-Un is worried about a coup that will depose him. He believes the plotters will be looking for someone who could act as a figurehead leader.
Who better to serve in that role than Kim Jong-Nam? He is passive, pliable, unlikely to have much of an agenda of his own. And he is a direct descendant of the “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-Il, and thus a legitimate ruler. By having him killed, that logical option is no longer available to any would-be coup organizer.
This is a risky gambit, as it’s likely to anger China (pretty much the DPRK’s patron state), who have been hosting and supporting Kim Jong-Nam. The willingness to incur China’s wrath is a measure of how desperate Kim Jong-Un is currently feeling.
It follows from the above speculation that Kim-Jong-Chul (Kim Jong-Un’s other half-brother) should not be feeling confident of a healthy future.
He was apparently last seen at an Eric Clapton concert in London in 2015. He may be under tight control in North Korea, or possibly already dead.
Kim Jong-un has a sister who’s been given a bunch of prominent roles in the regime; I wonder how long it’ll be her turn to be purged comes. Patriarchy aside a woman can be just as pliable figurehead ad a man after all.
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My first thoughts were along these lines. Purges early, like under Kim Jung Il, can easily be seen as part of that initial consolidation of power. Unlike with Dad the purging seems to have come at a slower rate but it just keeps coming. In this case, it is hitting someone that doesn’t seem to be a power player internally. The rational reason to take your not so dear expat brother out is because he can be a figurehead for real threats that haven’t or can’t be handled more directly.
There was talk even before this that Kim Jong-fathead was purging people for reasons that basically made him look like a madman and struck fear into the elite. Under his father and grandfather, they knew what would get them in trouble. Under dopeyboy, it is just anger and whim.
China has announced they will be accepting no more North Korean coal for the rest of this year, which cancels around 20% of North Korean trade.
The stated reason is the recent NK missile test, which is in violation of agreements already in place - and already much violated, so the subject of economic sanctions. It’s of course widely assumed that the assassination is involved as well.
Here’s Bloomberg speculating that this creates an opening for diplomacy to achieve something.
I find it interesting that China was Jong-nam’s refuge. Part of me wonders if China thought of him as their own “reserve dictator of North Korea” if Jong-un got too frisky or troublesome. Quietly eliminate the kid and put their pet Kim on the throne.
More to the point, even if China wasn’t really thinking that, would it matter if Jong-un thought they were?