NORTH KOREA:The eldest son of North Korea's leader has returned home after years in exile and appears to have healed a rift with his father, writes David McNeillin Tokyo
The guessing game over who will succeed Kim Jong-il as leader of the world's most hermetic state has intensified amid rumours that he has healed a rift with his eldest son.
Kim Jong-nam (36), the offspring of the reclusive North Korean dictator and the country's most famous actor, has returned home after years in exile, according to the South Korean daily, the Chosun Ilbo.
The newspaper reports that Kim jnr, who reportedly fell out with his father over his reckless lifestyle, is back in the family fold and has been reinstalled in a key government post.
It adds: "North Korea has apparently entered a new phase in choosing Kim Jong-il's successor."
Hong Kong reporters last year found Kim jnr living with his family in the nearby gambling resort of Macau, following a series of incidents that are said to have mortified his image-conscious father.
In the most infamous, the portly Kim jnr - reportedly a lifelong Mickey Mouse fan - tried to enter Japan in May 2001 on a fake Dominican Republic passport, apparently on his way to Tokyo Disneyland.
Tokyo deported him to Beijing, along with his wife, son and sister-in-law.
Kim snr recently ordered a crackdown on any discussion of succession, ordering "harsh punishment" for rumour-mongers, according to Seoul media. The "Dear Leader" warned his top officials that talk of another hereditary ruler could "damage" North Korea's image and "invite derision from the international community", said the Korea Herald.
Kim snr inherited power from his father, the late Kim Il-Sung, who founded the Stalinist state. But persistent speculation about the worsening health of the high-living 66-year-old, who is said to suffer from diabetes and heart disease, is forcing his hand, according to the South Korean media. Privately, many Pyongyang officials fear that the regime may not survive Kim snr's death and naming a successor would at least calm political jitters.
Kim jnr is the product of an affair between his father and actor Sung Hae-rim, who died in exile in Moscow five years ago. Once the North's biggest secret because of his parentage, he spent his childhood in one of several households kept by his father before attending school in Russia and Switzerland.
He reportedly speaks several languages and is a skilled computer technician, but many wonder whether his pampered upbringing has equipped him to run the closed and heavily militarised country. In one of the more widely reported incidents from his childhood, as an eight-year-old he reportedly ordered the kidnap of a South Korean comedian whom he had grown to like while watching television.
Since returning from Macau in May or June, Kim jnr has been working at the organisation and guidance department of the North Korean Workers' Party, the key agency that controls the party, military and government of North Korea, according to the Choson Ilbo.
And while older sons are generally favoured to succeed fathers in North Korean culture, Kim Jong-il has two other sons, Jong-chol (26) and Jong-woon (24).