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July 15, 2002 JapanToday.com
In spring of 2001, a man believed to be Kim Jong Nam, the eldest son of North Korea's enigmatic ruler Kim Jong Il, was caught attempting to enter Japan illegally, and after several days of detention, deported to China. During questioning, Kim had told Japanese immigration authorities his intended purpose was to "visit Tokyo Disneyland."
Well, reports Shukan Shincho (July 18), at least Kim told half the truth. But rather than Disneyland, it appears the 31-year-old possible heir apparent to North Korea's communist dynasty had a good part of his time sloshing around inside a soapland in Tokyo's Yoshiwara district, where he received the loving ministrations of Miss Haruka Sonoda (a pseudonym), age 22.
"I thought my heart would stop when I found out who he really was," says Sonoda. "He word a polo shirt under a vest, and had a gold chain around his neck. When I called the boss of our shop, he confirmed it: it was definitely Kim, no mistake about it."
Sonoda, described as having long hair and voluptuous curves, is a star attraction at bathhouse "Y," one of the area's more deluxe establishments, which charges visitors 80,000 yen for 120 minutes of sudsy revelry."Around the start of 2001, he visited the shop and asked for me three days in a row," Sonoda recalls to Shukan Shincho. "Once though, he received a call on his cell phone requesting he rush to Akasaka, and he dashed right out."
In addition to his cavortings at the Yoshiwara soapland, Kim had been seen at a Korean night club in the swank Akasaka district, and was rumored to be spending the nights with a Korean hostess."I called him Wong," Sonoda continues. "He said he did business in Hong Kong and spoke to me in a mixture of broken English and Korean. He showed me photos of his children and invited me to accompany him to Chinatown in Yokohama, but I begged off. Who knows? There's all that talk about Japanese being abducted to North Korea; it might have happened to me too."
Sonoda, who was certainly in a position to observe, also mentioned that "Wong" had a dragon tattooed on his back. According to Pyon Jin Il, editor of the "Korea Report," Kim Jong Nam is known to have such a tattoo.Shukan Shincho also mentions that Sonoda recalls her customer's procreative member as having been remarkably deficient in terms of size.
"But he visited here every day, and paid with a credit card. He also tipped generously," she says.The hostess at the Akasaka Korean club confirmed Sonoda's story, telling another reporter that so small was her customer's member that the condom kept slipping off. According to Pyon, Kim is believed to have made at least 10 secret visits to Japan, ostensibly for purposes of procuring technology to be used for production of armaments. "It's inconceivable that he would NOT have gone to places like night clubs and soaplands," Pyon tells Shukan Shincho. "In fact, he probably went straight there, before going anywhere else."
Agence France Presse reported that the ROK's JoongAng Ilbo published an unconfirmed report Thursday that DPRK leader Kim Jong-il has canceled a secret visit to the PRC because of the incident allegedly involving his son who was deported from Japan to the PRC last week. The article quoted an unnamed government source as saying that Kim had been scheduled to visit the southern town of Shenzhen, along with his eldest son Kim Jong-nam, for one week from May 7, but cancelled it at the last minute. Reports in January said that Kim had also planned to visit Shenzhen during his secret visit to Shanghai, but the trip was dropped from the program as there was so much to see in Shanghai. ("NORTH KOREAN LEADER CANCELS CHINA VISIT AFTER SON'S FIASCO," Seoul, 5/10/01)
The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that the forged passport used by the suspected eldest son of DPRK leader Kim Jong-il indicates that the passport's owner visited Japan three times last year. According to sources, public security authorities believe that the man, who identified himself as Kim Jong-nam when he was caught at Narita airport on May 1, spent at least 17 days in Japan during the October-December period last year. The man's familiarity with the domestic transport system led officials to believe that he may have visited before, using the same forged passport. Reportedly, the man's forged Dominican Republic passport contained records of entry into Japan, once in October and twice in December last year. The length of stay per visit ranged from five days to a week, the sources said, and the man arrived in Japan by way of Beijing on two occasions and via a Southeast Asian nation in the other instance.
According to the sources, public security authorities were informed by overseas intelligence agencies last month that a man believed to be Kim Jong-nam would enter Japan via Singapore on May 1. When the authorities checked the passenger list of a Japan Airlines flight arriving from Singapore on that day, they found the names of a man believed to be Kim Jong-nam, accompanied by two women and a boy who were assumed to be family members. On the day that the flight was scheduled to arrive, the authorities deployed dozens of security officials at Narita airport, mainly from the Immigration Bureau. When the man and his entourage were about to complete the entry process, they were surrounded by security officials. The man then spoke in Japanese to the officials, asking them the reason for the group's detention. The officials reportedly could not observe any individual or party assumed to be awaiting the arrival of the suspected North Koreans. The man was led to a room in the Immigration Bureau facility at the airport. He was not given the physical search that is usually performed on suspected illegal immigrants. Although he refused to answer questions from bureau officials for about an hour, the man eventually started responding in Japanese.
He was quoted by the sources as making such responses as "I'm the son of Kim Jong-il" and "We just wanted to visit Tokyo Disneyland." The man went on to say, "If we aren't allowed to enter, we would like to
return to North Korea by May 7." After spending the night at the airport, the whole party was transferred to the bureau's detention facility for illegal immigrants in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture. The man was housed in the standard male quarters with the boy and ate the same meals as others detained at the facility, the sources said. Behaving in a gentlemanly manner throughout his detention, the man answered questions asked by the officials and even complied with a request for voluntary fingerprinting. While the group was being led out of the facility to be deported, the suspected son of Kim Jong-il reportedly said to the officials, "Thanks for taking care of us."
By Aidan Foster-Carter
Kim Jong-il, we may safely predict, is not amused. A regime which denies liberty and even life to its subjects, preaches puritan communist morality and excoriates capitalism and the West, lets its playboy princeling swan into so-called enemy territory on a tacky fake passport, with son, two young women (neither his wife), a trunkful of cash and all the vulgar display of the nouveau riche. Bah, humbug...
The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that according to officials on May 4, the Japanese government's decision to deport a man believed to be the eldest son of DPRK leader Kim Jong-il reflected its desire to prevent the case from adversely affecting Japan's relations with that country. On Tuesday night, when the man was detained by immigration authorities at Narita airport, officials from the Justice Ministry, the Foreign Ministry and the National Police Agency joined Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Teijiro Furukawa at the prime minister's official residence to discuss what the government should do with the man. The National Police Agency insisted on arresting and thoroughly questioning him, but the Foreign Ministry disagreed with this approach, arguing that the DPRK was not expected to confirm the man as the eldest son of its leader and that the case would therefore only be prolonged. The officials continued their discussion on Wednesday. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and other government leaders became inclined to support the Foreign Ministry's solution to avert a "worst case scenario" whereby the detention of the man would emerge as a political issue not only between Japan and the DPRK, but within Japan as well, and would consequently become an obstacle to resuming negotiations on normalizing relations.
The government thus reached the conclusion that the detainee should be deported. As one option, it was thinking of sending him back to the DPRK. However, the detention of the man became public knowledge
Thursday, compelling the government to settle the case as soon as possible as any delay could generate public opposition to deportation. As a result, the government quickly went ahead with its original plan, deporting the man on the morning of May 4. A government source said, "What we did was get rid of a burden as quickly as possible. We had no other choice." Taku Yamasaki, secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, praised the government for calmly and wisely dealing with a difficult case. One government official said, "We managed to avoid what might have developed into an impediment to Japanese-DPRK relations. Now that we have saved face for North Korea, there may be
some positive reaction from the North." ("GOVERNMENT DECIDED NOT TO THREATEN TIES WITH N. KOREA," 05/05/2001)
The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that the Japanese government deported a man believed to be Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of DPRK leader Kim Jong-il, from Narita airport to the PRC on May 5, the day after his attempted illegal entry into Japan was reported. Two women and a 4-year-old boy who accompanied him were deported together with him for violation of the immigration control law. The four had been detained by immigration authorities since Tuesday, when they were held at the Narita immigration counter for carrying forged Dominican Republic passports. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters that deportation was an "appropriate step" taken by a democratic state in line with an optimal legal procedure. Referring to a statement against the deportation issued by a private group calling for a solution to the alleged abduction of Japanese by DPRK agents, Koizumi said, "The illegal entry was one thing and the abduction issue was another, although I think it is necessary for the government to take sufficient measures toward families of the abducted people." ("SON OF KIM JONG IL DEPROTED," 05/05/2001)
The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that some Diet members questioned the advisability of the government's decision to deport the man believed to be Kim Jong-nam to Beijing. A suprapartisan group of 10 Diet members, including Katsuei Hirasawa of the Liberal Democratic Party, released an urgent statement, blasting the government for ignoring Japan's rules and duties as a sovereign country by deporting the man without arresting him. Yuriko Koike of Hoshuto (New Conservative Party) said, "The government could have gained the most desirable card to break the impasse between Japan and North Korea." Keio University Professor Masao Okonogi said that the government apparently dealt with the case cautiously because the man could be the future leader of the DPRK. ("GOVERNMENT DECIDED NOT TO THREATEN TIES WITH N. KOREA," 05/05/2001)
By Kim Ji-ho, The Korea Herald, 9 May 2001
With all three governments of South Korea, Japan and China remaining tightlipped about a man believed to be North Korean leader's son, speculation and news reports persist over his whereabouts and his travelling companions. A South Korean intelligence source said yesterday that the man, who identified himself as Kim Jong-il's eldest son, Jong-nam, arrived in Japan May 1 via China, Vietnam and Singapore. The source failed to elaborate on his activities in the three Asian nations, only guessing that his trip was aimed at studying market reforms in China and Vietnam, both socialist countries, and the information and technology industry in Singapore. Accompanied by two women and a boy, the man was deported to China last Friday from Japan, where he had been detained for four days for travelling on a fake passport. It is speculated that a younger woman, who wore fashionable sunglasses and carried a designer handbag, is Jong-nam's secretary and Japanese interpreter, and that the child is his son. It was not confirmed yet, however, whether the other female companion was his wife, Shin Jong-hi, or in fact a relative who takes care of the child.
Despite the refusal of related governments' to confirm details, Japanese Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama said yesterday that Tokyo's immigration records showed that Kim's fake Dominican passport had been used on three occasions for illegal entrance into Japan. But the minister did not confirm whether Kim Jong-nam actually used the passport in previous trips. News media focused on whether the 30-year-old man and his entourage left for Pyongyang or whether he is currently staying in Beijing. An intelligence source, who requested anonymity, said the Seoul government had information that the foursome are still staying at the North Korean embassy in Beijing and will return home in several days. Some unidentified sources in China, however, reportedly said it is possibile that the group had already gone to Pyongyang by train. On Saturday, a North Korean flight left from Beijing for the North Korean capital, which many observers had expected would take the deportees. But they were not spotted at the airport. Both in May 2000 and January of this year, when Kim Jong-il made a secret visit to China, Beijing authorities confirmed the reclusive Communist leader's visits only after his return home. Kim Jong-nam is believed to be one of three children of the North Korean supreme leader, whose family has been veiled to the public.
Chosun Ilbo reported that DPRK leader Kim Jong-il's son Kim Jong-nam returned to Pyongyang on Koryo Airlines flight JS152 from Beijing at 12:23pm Tuesday, according to a source in the PRC capital. The source said that two vehicles, a white Mercedes with DPRK Embassy plates and a black one with foreign resident registration, were seen parking at the entrance to the embarkation gate for Koryo Airlines, something restricted to diplomats and foreign VIPs. The two vehicles left the airport with four to five embassy staff at 11:50am after apparently escorting Kim directly to the flight. ("KIM JONG NAM RETURNS TO PYONGYANG," Beijing, 05/08/01)
В Пхеньяне полагают, что Япония обнародовала информацию о нелегальном въезде Ким Чен Нама в страну с целью ослабить позиции КНДР В Пхеньяне полагают, что Япония преднамеренно допустила утечку информации о нелегальном въезде Ким Чен Нама в страну с целью ослабить позиции КНДР, пишет Guardian. По мнению издания, практически нет сомнений в том, что 29-летний мужчина действительно является старшим сыном северокорейского лидера. Подчеркивается сильное внешнее сходство отца и сына. При этом наследника северокорейской коммунистической династии бесцеремонно выгнали из Японии, отмечает газета, передает РБК. |06.05.2001| The Guardian: (in Russian)
Jonathan Watts in Tokyo and John Gittings in Seoul, The Guardian, 5 May 2001
The "Little General" who is being groomed to inherit North Korea's communist dynasty was unceremoniously kicked out of Japan yesterday after he tried to sneak into the country with his family for a trip to Tokyo Disneyland. Kim Jong-nam, his wife, son and another relative were deported to Beijing three days after immigration officials at Tokyo's Narita airport detained them for attempting to enter Japan on false passports. The Japanese government refused police requests to press charges and sent the illegal immigrants to China without formally identifying them. There is little doubt, however, that the 29-year-old man at the centre of all the attention is the eldest son of North Korea's "Dear Leader," Kim Jong-il. TV footage of the departure showed a man closely resembling the north's leader. Portly, balding and wearing gold-rimmed spectacles, the deportee sauntered with great self-assurance from the security van to the jet that was taking him out of the country.
According to Japanese media reports, immigration officials had been tipped off about Kim Jong-nam's arrival with two women and a child, believed to be his wife, four-year-old son and another relative. When they questioned him, he admitted buying the forged passport for $2,000 (£1, 300) and revealed his identity.
He told investigators that he planned to take his family to Tokyo Disneyland, saying he had been there once before in his teens. This revelation is an embarrassment for Japan, which has hostile relations with North Korea. According to South Korean media, Kim Jong-nam has been a member of the north's intelligence services for almost two years. Yet it appears that he has secretly visited Japan on numerous occasions.
The forged Dominican passport showed that he entered the country twice in the past 12 months alone. If revealed in North Korea, Kim Jong-nam's planned Disneyland vacation is unlikely to go down well at a time when millions face starvation. His father, however, may be more understanding. The Dear Leader has hinted that he traveled overseas incognito on several occasions. As an aficionado of Hollywood films, the older Kim may also empathize with his son's apparent passion for American-style entertainment. Some Pyongyang-watchers suspected that Japan had deliberately leaked news of Mr. Kim's illegal entry to weaken North Korea's position in future negotiations.
The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that DPRK government officials said Thursday night that they knew nothing about the incident in which a man who may be Kim Jong-nam, DPRK leader Kim Jong-il's eldest son, was detained at Narita airport on Tuesday on suspicion of illegal entry. ("N. KOREA 'KNOWS NOTHING', "MAN DETAINED AT NARITA BELIEVED KIM JONG IL'S SON," Pyongyang, 05/04/2001)
The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that regarding the reason for Kim Jong-nam's entry into Japan, Japanese experts on the DPRK speculated that the entry was part of Kim Il-son's education of his successor or that the entry was for Kim Jon-nam to see the development of information technology (IT) in Japan. Hajime Izumi, professor of International Relations at Shizuoka City University, said, "Kim Jong-il has wanted Kim Jong-nam to actively go abroad and see things. Perhaps, this time, too, Kim Jong-il encouraged Kim Jong-nam to do so."
Masao Okonogi, professor at Keio University, also pointed out, "(The entry) was part of Kim Jong-il's education of his successor. I don't think it was special mission, and sightseeing was also part of the objective (of his coming to Japan)." An unidentified journalist specializing on the Korean Peninsula said, "Kim Jong-nam is the leader of IT policy within the Workers' Party. His entry may have aimed to see the real situation of IT in Japan." ("AUTHORITIES MAY HAVE KNOWN KIM'S ENTRY BEFOREHAND," 05/04/2001)Chosun Ilbo reported that the eldest son of DPRK leader Kim Jong-il was expelled to the PRC Friday morning after he was caught trying to enter Japan on a fake passport. The man who identified himself as Kim Jong Nam and his travelling entourage were deported from the country to Beijing without any formal recognition of his identity, avoiding a diplomatic scandal. Kim Jong Nam was accompanied by two women and a 4-year-old boy, all believed to be his family members. Police took Kim into custody at Narita Airport east of Tokyo after he arrived on Tuesday aboard a Japan Airlines flight from Singapore. He was found to be carrying a fake passport from the Dominican Republic in the name of Pang Xiong. ("NK LEADER'S SON EXPELLED TO CHINA," Seoul, 05/04/01)
The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that Japanese authorities detained a man, who is believed to be Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of DPRK leader Kim Jong-il, at Narita airport for attempting to enter the country illegally on May 1, officials said on May 3. Immigration officers detained the man when he arrived from Singapore at about 3:40 p.m. on Tuesday aboard Japan Airlines Flight 712 with two women and a 4-year-old boy, the officials said. Later on Thursday, the Justice Ministry and immigration authorities began proceedings to deport the four to a third country. The man reportedly told investigators through an interpreter that he is son of Kim Jong-il and "wants to go to Tokyo Disneyland."
The man, who was wearing glasses, was found to possess a forged Dominican Republic passport when he went through the immigration counter at Narita airport's terminal No. 2. The Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau's Narita branch detained the four. Investigators said that the man appeared to be about 30 years old. One woman was aged 33 and the other 30. According to sources close to Japanese public security authorities, Kim has attempted to sneak into Japan several times under a false name to visit sightseeing spots. On Thursday evening, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi summoned Yutaka Kawashima, administrative vice foreign minister, to a Tokyo hotel where Koizumi was staying to inform him of the incident. Koizumi later discussed how to handle the issue with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda and Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Teijiro Furukawa. According to Foreign Ministry sources, the government is unable to directly deport the detainees to the DPRK as Japan does not have diplomatic ties with the DPRK. The government thus began negotiations with the PRC to temporarily accept the four, but the PRC had yet to issue an official agreement as of Thursday night, the sources said. Fukuda told reporters later in the day that the final decision on the matter would be made by the justice minister rather than the prime minister, apparently implying that the government wants to avoid the development of a political problem.
Government sources said that the DPRK can do nothing but ask the PRC for help in getting things set straight. Meanwhile, officials of the pro-DPRK General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon) in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, said that they learned about the incident from news reports, but vehemently ruled out any possibility of such an incident's occurring. "Such an incident as reported would never happen," an official at Chongryon's Tokyo headquarters said. "We cannot make any further comment. We resent the sense of alarm that has emerged." The report added that Kim Jong-nam, according to reports from Seoul, was born in 1971 to Song Hye-rim, Kim Jong-il's second wife and that the younger Kim, a prospective successor to his father, is known as a computer enthusiast. ("MAN DETAINED AT NARITA BELIEVED KIM JONG IL'S SON," 05/04/2001)
The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that Kim Jong-nam the North Korean leader's eldest son, sneaked into Japan with a forged passport around 1995 to visit tourist spots, including Tokyo Disneyland, with people linked to the DPRK during a weeklong stay in the Kanto region, according to sources. The sources said that Japanese public security authorities did not recognize him when he arrived at Narita airport because there are few close-up images and little other information available on the younger Kim, who has never appeared in public. The immigration office reportedly failed to detect at the time that his passport was forged. Public security officers, however, tailed the young man from the airport, where he was greeted respectfully by people with links to the DPRK. The authorities suspected that the man was engaged in intelligence activities or had a contact in Japan.
During the weeklong visit, Kim stayed in a first-class hotel in Tokyo, and visited Tokyo Disneyland and other spots. Subsequent investigations by authorities confirmed the man to be Kim, who entered Japan using a forged Latin American passport. According to Western intelligence agencies, Kim's family members apparently were seeking to leave Europe for Tokyo immediately before Kim entered Japan, but gave up the attempt. Including the most recent trip, Kim has entered Japan on three different occasions, according to the sources. Regarding Tuesday's attempted entry into Japan by a man possessing a forged Dominican Republic passport, public security authorities and others were on alert, as they had obtained information that Kim was planning to come to Japan soon. On Tuesday, however, nobody linked to the DPRK was spotted at Narita airport. According to Narita airport officials, the man arrived at about 3:40 p.m. Tuesday aboard Japan Airlines Flight 712.
When he proceeded to the immigration counter at Narita's terminal No. 2, an alarm buzzer went off, detecting an abnormality in his passport. According to the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau's Narita airport branch, the man was wearing a T-shirt, brown vest and black pants. A boy accompanying the man was wearing white pants and a short-sleeved shirt. Both looked like tourists, they said. If someone enters the country using a forged passport, the immigration office has two choices--filing a criminal complaint against the would-be illegal entrant with police on suspicion of violating the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law or deporting him. If the purpose of the attempted entry is obviously to work illegally in Japan, the entrant is usually subject to deportation. If the visit is deemed to be linked with criminal activities, however, police arrest the person when a complaint is filed by immigration authorities. In Tuesday's case, the man was not arrested. ("SOURCES: KIM SNEAKED INTO JAPAN AROUND 1995," 05/04/2001)
Chosun Ilbo reported that the whereabouts of Kim Jong-nam, the DPRK leader's eldest son, and his family were uncertain Sunday after his departure to the PRC on Friday. According to a source in Beijing, Kim and his family were staying in the DPRK embassy in Beijing, but there are rumors that they may have departed for Pyongyang by rail. The source also said that the DPRK is suspicious of the Japanese intentions after it revealed Kim's identity to the public, saying that Japanese authorities were fully aware of Kim's previous visits to Japan. The DPRK is said to be uncomfortable with what happened and analysts said that the DPRK believes that Japan had ill intentions, which may have negative impact on the future relationship of the two countries. Meanwhile PRC media groups were completely silent on the matter, failing to report on it. (Jee Hae-bum, "WHEREABOUTS OF KIM JONG NAM UNCERTAIN," Beijing, 05/04/01)