The eldest son and heir-apparent of North Korean leader Mr Kim Jong-il was yesterday deported to China from Japan after been detained for trying to enter the country on a false passport. Mr Kim Jong-nam, accompanied by two women and his four-year-old son, was led through Beijing's Capital airport VIP area after his arrival in China.
It was not known where the man was staying in Beijing. He was driven from a scheduled flight in a minibus after the rest of the passengers got off the plane.
Television footage of Mr Kim Jong-nam descending from the plane showed him to be overweight and bloated. His son followed behind, accompanied by two women, one believed to be the child's mother. He wore a black trousers and shirt and a brown quilted leather jerkin. He was also wearing small oval gold-rimmed spectacles. The group was travelling with small Louis Vuitton suitcases.
There are only two commercial flights a week between Beijing and Pyongyang in North Korea. Friday's flight by China Northern Airlines left on schedule several hours before the plane from Tokyo arrived, airline officials said. The next flight is on Monday.
A Japanese government source said the man was accepted by China as part of a deal to avoid a diplomatic incident. The Kyodo news agency in Tokyo reported that when arrested with a false passport on Tuesday, he said he was Kim Jong-nam and he wanted to go to Disneyland.
Little is known about the younger Kim, thought to be the heir apparent to the North Korean leader. Various reports say he studied in Japan, is an Internet expert and has travelled frequently to other countries, often with forged passports.
He was arrested at Tokyo's Narita airport after he arrived on Tuesday aboard a Japan Airlines flight from Singapore. It caused huge embarrassment to his father, who this week hosted the first visit to Pyongyang of a Western leader, the Swedish Prime Minister, Mr Goran Persson.
Reports said the immigration authorities had been tipped off about his arrival to Japan. The false passport he had travelled on was purportedly issued in the Dominican Republic and had been purchased for $2,000. The media said records showed he had used this twice before to enter Japan last year.
Mr Kim Jong-Nam accompanied his father to China earlier this year.
Reuters adds:
Two North Korean embassy cars, with heavily tinted windows, left the airport but there was no sign of Mr Kim jnr and his companions turning up at the embassy.
A North Korean diplomat told Reuters Television the Kim Jong-nam story was "a trick" and he was not at the embassy. He did not elaborate.
"There's nothing going on here. You people being here will make people think something is going on," he said of reporters and cameramen hoping to spot an arrival.