Kim Jong-chul (; born 25 September 1981), sometimes spelled Kim Jong Chol, is a son of former North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il. His younger brother is current Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un. His older half-brother

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 ...

was assassinated in February 2017. In 2007, Jong-chul was appointed deputy chief of a leadership division of the

Workers' Party of Korea The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) is the founding and sole ruling party of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea. Founded in 1949 from the merger of the Workers' Party of North Korea and the Workers' Party ...

. However, on 15 January 2009, the South Korean

Yonhap News Agency Yonhap News Agency is a major South Korean news agency. It is based in Seoul, South Korea. Yonhap provides news articles, pictures and other information to newspapers, TV networks and other media in South Korea. History Yonhap (, , translit. ' ...

reported that Kim Jong-il appointed his youngest son, Jong-un, to be his successor, passing over Jong-nam and Jong-chul. These reports were supported in April 2009 when Kim Jong-un assumed a low-level position within the ruling Workers' Party since Kim Jong-il was groomed by his own father,

Kim Il-sung Kim Il-sung (; , ; born Kim Song-ju, ; 15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) was a North Korean politician and the founder of North Korea, which he ruled from the country's establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994. He held the posts of ...

, in a similar way before becoming North Korean leader in 1994.

Early life

Kim Jong-chul was born in 1981. He is the son of Kim Jong-il and companion

Ko Yong-hui Ko Yong-hui (; ; 26 June 1952 – 13 August 2004), also spelled Ko Young-hee, was the consort of North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-il and the mother of his successor, Kim Jong-un. Within North Korea, she is only referred to by titles, such a ...

, who died in 2004. He was educated at the International School of Berne with younger brother

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 secon ...

. Until 2001, it was assumed that Kim Jong-il's eventual heir would be his eldest son,

, whose mother was Song Hye-rim. But in May 2001, Kim Jong-nam was

arrested An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be questi ...

at Narita International Airport, Japan, travelling on a forged Dominican Republic passport. He was held and then deported to the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. The incident caused Kim Jong-il to cancel a planned visit to China because of the embarrassment to both countries. As a result of this incident, Kim Jong-nam fell from favour, although Kim himself said his loss of favour had been due to advocating reform.

Heir apparent

In February 2003, moves began to raise the profile of Kim Jong-chul. The

Korean People's Army The Korean People's Army (KPA; ) is the military force of North Korea and the armed wing of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). Under the '' Songun'' policy, it is the central institution of North Korean society. Currently, WPK General S ...

began a propaganda campaign using the slogan "The Respected Mother is the Most Faithful and Loyal Subject to the Dear Leader Comrade Supreme Commander". Since the "Respected Mother" was described as " evotingherself to the personal safety of the comrade supreme commander", and " ssistingthe comrade supreme commander nearest to his body", Western analysts assume that the "Respected Mother" was

, mother of Kim Jong-chul and Kim Jong-un."Kim Jong Chol – Leadership Succession – Democratic People's Republic of Korea."
''Global Security''. Retrieved 20 January 2009. A similar campaign was launched in praise of Kim Jong-il's mother (

Kim Jong-suk Kim Jong-suk (; 24 December 1917Suh Dae-sook. Kim Il Sung: The North Korean Leader. New York: Columbia University Press, 1988. – 22 September 1949) was a Korean anti-Japanese guerrilla, a Communist activist, North Korean leader Kim I ...

) during the later years of

's life. This suggested that Kim Jong-chul, despite his youth, had emerged with Army backing to be a serious contender to succeed his father. However, Kenji Fujimoto, Kim Jong-il's personal

sushi is a Japanese dish of prepared , usually with some sugar and salt, accompanied by a variety of , such as seafood, often raw, and vegetables. Styles of sushi and its presentation vary widely, but the one key ingredient is "sushi rice," also ...

chef, wrote in his memoir, ''I Was Kim Jong-il's Cook'', that Kim Jong-il thought Jong-chul was "no good because he is like a little girl". Fujimoto believed Kim Jong-il favoured his youngest son, Kim Jong-un. On 1 June 2009, it was reported that Kim Jong-chul had been passed over as his younger brother, Kim Jong-un, was to succeed his father as the head of the

and ''de facto'' head of state of North Korea.

2011–present

Kim Jong-chul was reportedly spotted in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

on 14 February 2011, where he was attending an Eric Clapton concert. In late 2011, his father died and his younger brother, Kim Jong-un, succeeded his father as the head of state. He was again apparently spotted attending two additional Clapton concerts on successive days at the Royal Albert Hall in London, in May 2015. According to Lee Yun-keol (as reported by ''

Wen Wei Po ''Wen Wei Po'' is a pro-Beijing state-owned newspaper based in Hong Kong. The newspaper was established in Hong Kong on 9 September 1948, after its Shanghai edition was launched in 1938. Its head office is in the Hing Wai Centre () in Aber ...

''), chairman of the North Korea Strategy Information Service Center, Kim Jong-chul personally led the arrest of his 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 on ...

.Want China News
"Kim Jong-un's brother led arrest of Jang Sung-taek: source"
, 12 December 2013. Some analysts believe that this signals an expanded role for Kim Jong-chul in the North Korean regime. Kim Jong-chul does not involve himself in politics, leading a quiet life in Pyongyang where he plays guitar in a band, according to

Thae Yong-ho Thae Yong-ho (, ; born 25 July 1962), also known by his pseudonym Tae Ku-min (), is a North Korean-born South Korean politician and former diplomat who is serving as a member of the National Assembly for the Gangnam district of Seoul. He was Nor ...

, North Korea's former deputy ambassador in London who defected to the South.Wonderful Tonight: Taking Kim Jong Un's brother to a Clapton concert
/ref>

Early life

Heir apparent

2011–present

References

Further reading