BBC News, 19
October 2012
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 |
Kim Han-sol said he wanted to "make
things better'' for North Korea
|
Kim
Han-sol, 17, said that he wished to ''make things better'' for the people in
his country.
He was
speaking to former UN Under-Secretary General Elisabeth Rehn in an interview
for Finnish television.
He is the
son of Kim Jong-nam, eldest brother of Kim Jong-un, who has been living in
Macau and China.
"I've
always dreamed that one day I would go back and make things better and make it
easier for the people there," said Kim Han-sol, in fluent English.
Sporting
ear-studs, styled hair and a black suit, the teenager spoke of his dreams of
reunification of the two Koreas in the televised interview.
He had
South Korean friends, he said, and while it was awkward when he first met them,
''little by little'' they started to understand each other.
''Through
meeting people, I've concluded that I will just take opinions from both sides,
see what's good and what's bad, and make my own decisions,'' he said.
'Waiting
for him'
It is not
clear why Kim Han-sol agreed to the interview. He first drew international
attention in October 2011, when pictures and comments on his Facebook page were
reported by South Korean media.
His account
was quickly blocked and it was reported that he would be studying at the United
World College (UWC) in Mostar.
 |
| Kim Han-sol is the son of Kim Jong-nam (pictured), the North Korean leader's out-of-favour brother |
Ms Rehn is
the patron of the UWC initiative in Bosnia. She is also formerly Finland's
Minister of Defence and a UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Bosnia and
Herzegovina.
Kim Han-sol
said he had never met his grandfather or uncle. He described an isolated
childhood spent mostly in Macau and China, after his birth in Pyongyang in
1995.
He only
realised who his grandfather was after putting ''pieces of the puzzle''
together as he grew up.
''I was
actually waiting for him... till before he passed away, hoping he would come
find me, because I really didn't know if he knew that I existed," he said.
On the
succession, he added that he did not know how his uncle, Kim Jong-un ''became a
dictator".
"It
was between him and my grandfather," he said.
His father,
Kim Jong-nam, 39, was thought to have fallen out of favour in 2001 after he was
caught trying to sneak into Japan using a false passport. He told officials
that he was planning to visit Tokyo Disneyland.
He has
maintained a low profile overseas but he was quoted by Japanese TV station
Asahi in October 2011 as saying he was opposed to ''dynastic succession''.
"My
dad was definitely not really interested in politics," Kim Han-sol said,
when asked why his father was passed over for succession.
As for his
own future, he said he pictured himself going to university and then
''volunteering somewhere''.
''I would
like to engage in more humanitarian projects... work to contribute to building
world peace, especially back home because that is a really important part of
me....'' he said.
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