Kim Han-sol ( ko, 김한솔, born 16 June 1995) is the eldest son of

Kim Jong-nam Kim Jong-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. He was thought to have fallen out of favour after em ...

and a grandson of the former North Korean ruler

Kim Jong-il Kim Jong-il (; ; ; born Yuri Irsenovich Kim;, 16 February 1941 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second supreme leader of North Korea from 1994 to 2011. He led North Korea from the 1994 death of his father Kim ...

. His father was the unofficial

heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

until 2001, when he fell out of favor with the regime after a failed attempt to secretly visit

Tokyo Disneyland (local nickname ''TDL'') is a theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, near Tokyo. Its main gate is directly adjacent to both Maihama Station and Tokyo Disneyland Station. It was the first Disney park to be ...

in May 2001. Kim Han-sol's half-uncle,

Kim Jong-un Kim Jong-un (; , ; born 8 January 1982) is a North Korean politician who has been Supreme Leader of North Korea since 2011 and the leader of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012. He is a son of Kim Jong-il, who was North Korea's sec ...

, was named the heir apparent in September 2010, and succeeded Kim Jong-il upon the latter's death in December 2011. Since his father's assassination in 2017, his whereabouts have been unknown.

Early life and education

Kim Han-sol was born in

Pyongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populatio ...

in 1995 and had an isolated upbringing in

Mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

and

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

. Kim Han-sol first came to public attention in 2011 when he was accepted by

Li Po Chun United World College The Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong (LPCUWC, ), established in 1992, is an International Baccalaureate boarding school in Wu Kai Sha (烏溪沙), Hong Kong, within walking distance of Wu Kai Sha station. It is the eighth member ...

, a member of the UWC movement, to study in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. Later, he was denied a student visa by the Hong Kong government. In late 2011, due to an admissions announcement by the

United World Colleges United World Colleges (UWC) is an international network of schools and educational programmes with the shared aim of "making education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future." The organization was founde ...

' (UWC) United World College in Mostar,

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

campus, it was discovered by the South Korean media that one of the newly admitted students to the college was Kim Han-sol, about whom very little had been previously known. The South Korean media tracked down several online accounts maintained by Kim Han-sol. The content of the accounts were widely spread online, providing stark contrast to his grandfather's regime. In various posted messages on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, he expressed guilt for his family's role in the suffering of the North Korean people. He expressed guilt about having enough to eat when his people in North Korea were starving, and he appeared to criticize his uncle – the heir apparent – Kim Jong-un. In October 2012, Kim Han-sol made his first ever televised interview (in English) with Finnish TV network

Yle Yleisradio Oy (Finnish, literally "General Radio Ltd." or "General Broadcast Ltd."; abbr. Yle ; sv, Rundradion Ab, italics=no), translated to English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founde ...

, making several comments about his desire for

Korean reunification Korean reunification () is the potential reunification of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea into a single Korean sovereign state. The process towards reunification was started by the June 15th North–South Joi ...

, and not disputing the interviewer

Elisabeth Rehn Märta Elisabeth Rehn (; born 6 April 1935) is a Finnish former politician and diplomat. She served as the Minister of Defence of Finland during 1990 to 1995 and as an Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations during 1998 to 1999. She was al ...

's disparaging characterizations of Kim Han-sol's grandfather's and uncle's rule over North Korea. In December 2013, Kim was in his first year of study at the

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very cl ...

campus of France's

Sciences Po , motto_lang = fr , mottoeng = Roots of the Future , type = Public university, Public research university''Grande école'' , established = , founder = Émile Boutmy , a ...

university. Following the execution of his grand uncle

Jang Song-thaek Jang Song-thaek (January or February 1946 – 12 December 2013) was a leading figure in the government of North Korea. He was married to Kim Kyong-hui, the only daughter of North Korean Premier Kim Il-sung and his first wife Kim Jong-suk, and o ...

in December 2013, he was placed under police protection. He completed his studies at Sciences Po in 2016.

Assassination of Kim Jong-nam

Kim Han-sol's father

died in Malaysia on 13 February 2017, after two women attacked him at the

Kuala Lumpur International Airport Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) is Malaysia's main international airport. It is located in the Sepang District of Selangor, approximately south of Kuala Lumpur and serves the city's greater conurbation. KLIA is the largest and b ...

, and rubbed his face with

VX nerve agent VX is an extremely toxic synthetic chemical compound in the organophosphorus class, specifically, a thiophosphonate. In the class of nerve agents, it was developed for military use in chemical warfare after translation of earlier discoveri ...

, a lethal chemical weapon. On 7 March 2017 a video surfaced of Kim Han-sol that was by a group called the Cheollima Civil Defense, and though parts of it were censored, he stated that he was with his mother and sister and hoping that it would "get better soon." His father's body was flown back to North Korea on 31 March, despite his protests. In October 2017, Chinese police arrested two North Korean agents in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, on suspicion of plotting to harm Kim Han-sol, according to the South Korean newspaper ''

JoongAng Ilbo ''The JoongAng'', formally known as ''JoongAng Ilbo'', is a South Korean daily newspaper published in Seoul, South Korea. It is one of the three biggest newspapers in South Korea, and a newspaper of record for South Korea. The paper also publ ...

''. The two suspects were members of North Korea's

Reconnaissance General Bureau The Reconnaissance General Bureau ( ko, 정찰총국; RGB, Reconnaissance Bureau of the General Staff Department) is a North Korean intelligence agency that manages the state's clandestine operations. Most of their operations have a specific foc ...

, which is responsible for overseas espionage and part of a team of seven that was foiled by Chinese authorities. In April 2020, however,

Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg Televi ...

journalists Kanga Kong and Jon Herskovitz reported that Kim Han-sol's "whereabouts remain unknown" since the assassination. In November 2020, it was reported that Han-Sol had been taken into protective custody by the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

at some point following his father's assassination.

Family tree

References

External links

Cheollima Civil Defense
*
"Rare interview with Kim Jong-il's son"
BBC, 7 June 2009 (video)

''The Korea Times'', 27 October 2011, interview
"Kim Jong-il’s Grandson is Living With a Libyan Revolutionary"
''North Korea News'', 18 October 2012
"Kim Jong-il's 'Hipster' Grandson Reported Missing By Bosnian Media"
''IB Times'', 25 April 2013
"Kim Jong-Un's nephew Kim Han-Sol graduates from boarding school in Bosnia"
''News.com.au'', 5 June 2013 {{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Han-sol 1995 births Living people People from Pyongyang Kim dynasty (North Korea) North Korean expatriates in Macau People educated at a United World College

Early life and education

Assassination of Kim Jong-nam

Family tree

See also

References

External links