It is like the story of a one-time crown prince called Yangnyeong at the beginning of the Joseon Dynasty. The eldest son who was initially deemed the next in throne loses his status to his younger brother after falling out of his father’s favor for misbehavior. The defamed, womanizing son goes into exile.

Only this time, in North Korea, the brothers’ country faces an opaque future.

Because he is the eldest, Jong-nam, born in 1971, was often considered the most likely son to succeed North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. That was until 2001 when he got caught trying to enter Japan on a fake Dominican passport bearing the name Pang Xiong which means “Fat Bear” in Chinese. He told the police that he wanted to go to Tokyo Disneyland, which greatly enraged his father. After several days of detention, Jong-nam was deported to China, making Kim Jong-il cancel a scheduled trip to China out of embarrassment to both countries.

Prior to the globally publicized 2001 incident, Jong-nam had reportedly made several secret visits to Japan, starting as early as 1995.

Several years after the eldest son’s fallout, speculation rose over whether the throne would go to second son Jong-chol, as it usually did during the Joseon Dynasty.

Unlike his elder brother who was tutored and educated in North Korea’s elite school, Jong-chol, born in 1981 to a different mother, was educated in Switzerland for five years until 1998.

It was only early last year that the outside world learned that the “Dear Leader” finally decided to pass on his legacy to the third and youngest son Jong-un, born in 1984.

Now that Jong-un has officially made his debut as successor by being appointed to key posts in the Workers’ Party and appearing on state television, the fates of the two other sons remain in question, especially after what happened to their previous generation.

After being picked out as successor in the 1970s to his father and the republic’s founder Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il went on a sweeping purge to remove potential political threats.

He branded his stepmother Kim Song-ae and her sons Kim Pyong-il and Yong-il as “lateral branch” powers to solidify an assertion that only he, as the legitimate heir, was capable of carrying on with the “revolution,” which is supposed to be his country’s mission.

Kim Jong-il removed his half-brothers Pyong-il and Yong-il from the political center in Pyongyang by sending them abroad for good.

Starting with his appointment as the North Korean ambassador to Hungary and Bulgaria in 1988 and to Finland in 1994, Pyong-il has been North Korea’s ambassador to Poland since 1998.

Young-il died of lung cancer while serving as an advisor to the North Korean diplomatic mission in Germany.

As for the third generation of the Kim regime, Jong-nam falls into the category of “lateral branch” to heir Jong-un.

Jong-nam was born to Kim Jong-il and former actress Song Hye-rim who had been married to another man when they began to have an affair, which led to her forced divorce.

Kim Jong-il never formally married Song, but had great affection for his first child whose birth is said to have been kept secret from Kim Il-sung for four years.

Because the existence of an illegitimate child could hurt Kim Jong-il’s authority, Jong-nam was initially kept out of school and tutored by Song’s older sister Song Hye-rang to avoid the public eye.

Kim Jong-il’s love for Jong-nam is said to have faded after he married former dancer Koh Young-hui in the late 1970s, who bore Jong-chol and Jong-un.

Jong-nam appeared to move himself far from power after Song Hye-rim died alone in a Moscow hospital in 2002 and Song Hye-rang defected in Geneva in 1996.

After his arrest at Narita Airport in Japan in 2001, Jong-nam reportedly wandered around China, Russia, Hong Kong and Macau for a while.

After Ko Young-hui, the mother of second son Kim Jong-chol, died in 2003, there was speculation that Jong-nam could return to the power game in Pyongyang to win succession and that he was supported by Kim Jong-il’s sister Kyung-hui and her husband Jang Song-thaek. Some said authorities in Beijing were backing Jong-nam as he was believed adequate for leading a market reform and opening modeled after China’s, based on his long overseas experience.

But considering reports over the past few years on Jong-nam’s life of gambling and womanizing in China and Macau, it is apparent that he no longer has political ambitions at home.

Most North Korea watchers say Kim Jong-nam is expected to continue residing abroad like his uncle Pyong-il. Some say he could try defecting to the West. 

Jong-nam told Japan’s TV Asahi last week in Beijing that he was “against the third generation succession” but that he would help his brother Jong-un abroad anytime when needed.

Second son Jong-chol is widely expected to assist his younger brother Jong-un as they have the same mother and also because he is said to have less of what it takes to become successor.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)