“I am Kim Jong-nam. I wanted to go to Disneyland,” said the man who was expected to become North Korea’s supreme leader.
Kim Jong-il’s heir apparent had been arrested at Narita airport in Japan in May 2001, when officials became suspicious of his fake Dominican Republic passport with the name Pang Xiong, which means “fat bear” in Mandarin. He further disgraced the austere regime when it emerged that he was wearing a diamond-encrusted Rolex watch and that his female entourage was carrying Louis Vuitton bags. After exhaustive questioning, he was deported.
On such incidents does the wheel of fortune turn. Kim Jong-nam was effectively disinherited, and a cult of personality began to surround his paternal half-brother, Kim Jong-un, who was named heir apparent in September