Kim Jong-un's nephew resurfaces with French police protection
North Korean leader's nephew Kim Han-sol has resurfaced on his university campus in northern France
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 17 December, 2013, 1:02pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 17 December, 2013, 1:03pm
Audrey Yoo [email protected]
Kim Han-sol pictured in August on the Le Havre campus of Sciences-Po. Photo: SCMP Pictures
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s teenage nephew, believed to have gone under the radar following the execution of Pyongyang’s No 2 man, has resurfaced on his university campus in France, reported South Korean media.
On Monday evening, South Korean journalists spotted Kim Han-sol on the Le Havre campus of the prestigious French university Sciences-Po, where he was accompanied by several plainclothes police officers, said the Seoul-based Yonhap News Agency.
French police not only accompanied the 19-year-old to his dormitory but they also patrolled the premises, asking South Korean reporters to back off, Yonhap said.
Kim Han-sol was believed to have been laying low after last Thursday’s high-profile execution of Jang Song-thaek, North Korea’s second most powerful man who raised the teenager’s father Kim Jong-nam.
Before his execution, Jang had financially supported Kim Jong-nam’s exiled life in Macau, China and Singapore, said South Korean media.
Although Kim Jong-nam is the eldest son of former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, he fell out of favour and his younger half-brother Kim Jong-un took their father’s place in power two years ago.
Last Saturday, Kim Han-sol’s name had been removed from his dormitory postbox, raising media speculation that the teenager was trying to go into hiding for safety reasons.
The young man had requested to have his name removed from the postbox, reported Japanese media, quoting people related to the dormitory where Kim Han-sol has been living since he enrolled at Sciences-Po in August.
When South Korean journalists asked Kim’s fellow students whether he was doing well at school, they demurred, saying Sciences-Po told them not to comment on Kim’s university life, said Yonhap.
