Assassination of Supreme Brother

Since Tuesday, news media in Japan has been focusing on reporting assassination of Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of former supreme leader of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Kim Jong-il, in Malaysia. Nobody doubts the incident not being conspired by current supreme leader and Jong-nam’s stepbrother, Kim Jong-un. As the killing of supreme brother in North Korea does not matter to security of Japan, news media keep on telling who did that or how they did it.

Afternoon TV shows for housewives who had laid her baby in the crib or came back from sports gym explained how Kim Jong-nam was killed by two female suspects in the airport. Video footages indicated that one woman stood in front of Kim and sprayed him poisonous gas. Another woman held him in a Nelson hold from the back. Those women had passport of Vietnam or Indonesia.

Those female assassins reportedly testified to the police that they were asked to cooperate taking a prank video by someone unknown. A newspaper in Malaysia reported that the police was searching for four men with nationality of North Korea. It is supposed that Kim Jong-nam was killed by the agents of DPRK with an order of Kim Jong-un.

So, why did Jong-un need to kill his stepbrother? Jong-nam was formerly a candidate for succeeding his father. After Jong-un officially took the seat of supreme leader, Jong-nam had been an obstacle for stabilizing the regime. Asahi Shimbun reported that DPRK had been planning the assassination for five years. National Intelligence Service of South Korea announced its viewpoint that the assassination was plotted with paranoiac nature of Kim Jong-un.

Gossip newspapers in Japan reported a fury of China with big headlines. China had been supporting former Vice-chairman of National Defense Commission of North Korea, Jang Sung-taek because of his good handling of economic reform. But, Jang was liquidated by Kim Jong-un in 2013. Being close to Jang, Jong-nam had been protected by China in his escape from DPRK.

Japanese public was fundamentally shocked by abnormality of the assassination. An expert on the issues related to North Korea supposed that two women were not spies but the temporary undertaker hired by North Korean agents. North Korea has been plotting assassination with deliberate plan and well-trained agents. The case of Kim Jong-nam was apparently different from former patterns. It is at least sure that Kim Jong-un is labeled as a leader doing unpredictable things.