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N. Korea’s heir apparent follows Eric Clapton on tour in Germany

Special to World Tribune.com
EAST-ASIA-INTEL.COM
Wednesday, June 21, 2006

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il's son and heir apparent, Kim Jong-Chol, toured Germany earlier this month to see concerts by rock star Eric Clapton.

Fuji TV broadcast secretly filmed footage showing a man resembling Kim Jong-Chol accompanied by his apparent girlfriend and several North Korean bodyguards.

The footage showed the man, about 170 centimeters tall and wearing blue jeans, taking pictures and attending the British pop artist's concert held in four German cities from June 3 to 7. He attended all of the four concerts in Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Leipzig, and Berlin Fuji TV said in the program, "New truth about North Korea’s prince."

Kim Jong-Chol on Japan's Fuji TV. Inset is a photo of his grandfather and North Korea's founding leader Kim Il-Sung.
Fuji TV said the man is believed to be Kim Jong-Chol, second son of North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-Il, noting he is a die-hard Clapton fan. Jong-Chol, 25, resembles his mother Ko Yong-Hi, who died in 2004, the broadcast said.

Jong-Chol is known to have studied in Bern, Switzerland, in the mid-1990s. Former classmates confirmed he is the figure in the video, according to Japan's Fuji TV.

Experts said the young woman who accompanied Kim was believed to be his wife or girlfriend. Kim and the woman were wearing couple rings, Fuji TV reported.

Kim makes frequent trips to France and other European countries as a member of Pyongyang's delegation to UNESCO under the alias of Kim Chol-Song, according to sources.

Kim Jong-Chol and girlfriend.
Seoul's Chosun Ilbo newspaper said Jong-Chol traveled to France and other European countries earlier this month to visit a hospital. Jong-Chol reportedly suffers from a rare illness that results in his body producing excessive amounts of female hormones.

Jong-Chol is widely favored to be first in line to succeed the reclusive North Korean leader. According to intelligence officials in Seoul, some North Korean officials were seen wearing lapel pins depicting Jong-Chol, a possible preparation for power succession in the country.

Jong-Chol's 36-year-old elder half-brother, Jong-Nam, has long been considered out of contentions for the country’s next leader after Japanese authorities caught him attempting to enter Japan illegally in May 2001 with a woman and a child, believed to be his wife and son.


Copyright © 2006 East West Services, Inc.

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