Kim Jong Uns Half-Brother Killed: Why Would He Be Assassinated?

[fleur-de-lisa]

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/north-korea/kim-jong-un-s-half-brother-killed-why-would-he-n721201


Kim Jong Nam, who is believed to be in his mid-40s, was once considered a successor to the leadership. But he fell out of favor when he was caught trying to enter Japan on a fake passport in 2001. He said he wanted to visit Disneyland Tokyo — a symbol of the Westernization demonized by North Korea. Since then he has been critical of the regime but experts never considered him a direct threat to his half-brother's rule.

"Most North Koreans do not know of his existence and he ruled himself out as a political player long ago," according to James Edward Hoare, an associate fellow and North Korea expert at Chatham House, a London-based think tank. In this sense, it appeared his death would have no immediate benefits for the regime.

"It is not just the manner of it, which is brutal, but it's the fact that there's no pay-off," said Smith at the University of Central Lancashire.

It wouldn't be the first time Kim Jong Un, a youthful dictator still in his 30s, had meted out pitiless punishment.

[NCjack]

1. This murder allows Kim Jong Un to sleep a little easier

knowing that his 1/2 brother cannot ever become the center point of a revolt. As NK gets closer to being a threat, the privileged have to be thinking: a) die with Kim Jong Un, or b) take a chance and revolt.

[Blue_true]

3. Kim's half brother spoke out publicly against the NK regime.

His killing is sort of like what Stalin did to Trotsky after Lenin died.

[MoonRiver]

6. Except they weren't brothers.

[sarah FAILIN]

2. China

Supposedly he was more friendly to China

[pinboy3niner]

4. Lots of reasons why Kim Jong-un would order the assassination

Political experts on North Korea’s politics immediately speculated that Kim Jong-un had ordered the assassination of his older half sibling, who at one time had been the heir apparent and had been favored by China, the country’s ally and principal benefactor.

“Maybe Kim Jong-nam was about to do something drastic that would either compromise the regime or the family,” said Jae H. Ku, director of the U.S.-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. “By the nature of things in North Korea, the fact that he is in the bloodline represented a threat.”

Others were even more emphatic in their suspicion that Kim Jong-un had been responsible, partly because Kim Jong-nam had been publicly critical of the transfer of power that made Kim Jong-un the top leader after the death of their father, Kim Jong-il, in 2011.

“The apparent murder today of Kim Jong-nam in Malaysia by agents of his brother is the latest explosive turn in Pyongyang’s vicious palace intrigue,” said Nicholas Eberstadt, a political economist who specializes in North and South Korea at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. “The question remains: Do these deadly measures secure his rule or serve to undermine it?”

There also was speculation that Kim Jong-un might have ordered Kim Jong-nam killed because China might have been planning to support him as a replacement for Kim Jong-un, who has angered Chinese leaders with his provocative weapons and missile tests.

“Kim Jong-nam reportedly has been Beijing’s favorite, which may mean one day the Chinese Communist Party may overthrow Kim Jong-un and install Kim Jong-nam,” said Lee Sung-yoon, a North Korea expert at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/world/asia/kim-jong-un-brother-killed-malaysia.html?_r=0

[bdamomma]

5. no remorse seen

from Kim Jong Un.

[JHB]

7. Same reason as ruthlessly dirty dynastic tactics through history...

The half brother is another "legitimate heir" who could serve as a focus for a faction to stage a coup against him. Un gets cement overshoes and Nam becomes the new Dear Leader under "guidance" of the coup plotters.

No Nam, and that scenario can't play out.