By Count Friedrich von Olsen
Dear readers, whenever you begin to despair about how badly run and corrupted our public institutions here in San Bernardino County are – and they are pretty bad, actually – you can comfort yourself that at least this isn’t North Korea…
Kim Jong Nam is, or was, the half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Kim Jong Nam was the product of a not-so-secret relationship between North Korea’s second-generation leader, Kim Jong Il, and his consort, an actress named Sung Hye Rim. Kim Jong Nam was actually older than Kim Jong Un, and in a lot of places that would have made him the heir to the kingdom. It didn’t work out that way, though. Kim Jong Un scratched his way to the top of the North Korean heap. He has done so by a whole lot of palace intrigue, including killing a bunch of people he thought might get in his way. And while you would think that Kim Jong Un might have drawn the line, when it comes to murder, at his own flesh and blood, that is not the case. He knocked off his uncle a few years back…
My contacts in South Korean intelligence tell me that Kim Jong Un put out a “standing assassination order” for his older half brother more than four years ago. It appears someone has made good on that contract…
On February 13, Kim Jong Nam was in a Kuala Lumpur airport terminal. In a well-executed hit, a North Korean agent managed to dust or smear on his skin a dose of VX, a lethal neurotoxin. Kim Jong Nam slumped in the chair he was in, in considerable pain, but it did not last long. Medical care was summoned, but he died in an ambulance en route to a hospital. Malaysian authorities confirmed that he died from VX exposure and that they believe eight North Koreans in their country were involved in the attack…
Kim Jong Nam was a lot smarter than his younger brother. Kim Jong Nam could speak several languages and had lived in multiple places around the world, enabled by an endowment from his father, who had chosen to elevate Kim Jong Un as his replacement. Kim Jong Nam accepted his brother’s ascendancy, but he made some statements here and there, based upon his more worldly view, one of which expressed doubt at the wisdom of North Koreans consenting to be ruled by a third generation member of the same family, that is, his brother. He seemed to think that North Korea might be better served by a more civilized democratic process in which leaders are chosen on the basis of their ability rather than their parentage. In North Korea, that is heresy, and Kim Jong Nam was given the medicine – some VX jelly – North Korea reserves for its heretics…