The secretive lives of Kim Jong-un's siblings

FROM an Eric Clapton mega-fan to a sister who produces propaganda to an assassinated half brother, Kim Jong-un’s siblings have remained shadowy figures — even by North Korean standards.
But since Kim Jong-nam’s death in February, when two women lunged at him and smeared the banned VX nerve agent on him at Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur airport, the first family of North Korea has been thrown into the spotlight.
Reports soon circulated that Kim Jong-un had his half-brother, whom he had never met, killed because of fears a coup was being plotted to overthrow him.
Kim’s remaining siblings — Kim Yo-jong, Kim Sul-song and Kim Jong-chul — have remained mostly in the background since the death of their father, Kim Jong-il, in 2011. Kim Yo-jong, his sister, made international headlines earlier this month when she was voted to become an alternate member of the political bureau of the party’s central committee, the state’s Korean Central News Agency announced.
Here’s what we know about the siblings.
KIM JONG-NAM
As Kim Jong-il’s eldest child, Kim Jong-nam, was poised to succeed his father when Kim Jong-il died. Jong-nam was born in May 1971 and the former dictator was reportedly fond of his first son, often dining and calling him despite raising him in secret and sealing him behind palace gates, the BBC reported.
Like many of siblings, Jong-nam studied in Switzerland and lived in Russia before returning to North Korea in the late 1980s.
Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Picture: Shizuo Kambayashi
Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Picture: Shizuo KambayashiSource:AP
His chances to rule the volatile regime grew rocky over the years. He still worked for his father by serving in the regime’s internal security apparatuses and the foreign exchange earning operations.

But any chance Jong-nam had to become the supreme ruler officially ended in May 2001 when he was arrested at an airport in Tokyo for using a counterfeit passport, according to the BBC. He reportedly told officials he was planning to visit Tokyo Disneyland.
The incident became a source of embarrassment that drove Jong-nam into exile in Macau. He was reportedly travelling with a fake Portuguese passport at the time.
In interviews, Jong-nam said he had “no interest” in becoming the next North Korean leader, according to The Telegraph. He also had a home in Beijing.
Jong-nam died in early February after two women carried out a daring assassination at the Malaysian airport. Siti Aisyah, 25, and Doan Thi Huong, 28, are on trial in connection with the death, though they have insisted they thought they were playing a prank for a reality TV show. North Korean agents are also suspected of engineering the plot.
Kim Jong-il’s eldest son could have been seen as a potential rival to Jong-un. A report by Japanese magazine Nikkei Asian Review also claimed the North Korean leader “flew into a rage” when he uncovered a coup that planned to replace him with Jong-nam.