My Father, Kim Jong Il, and Me, published by a Japanese journalist in 2012, draws on extensive interviews and emails to cast light on his criticism of his family and the North Korean regime.
TOKYO — A 2012 book drawing on extensive emails and interviews with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s brother, who was in Malaysia, sheds light on his critical views of the North Korean political system and his own family’s right to rule. Journalist Yoji Gomi published the book after conducting hours of interviews and exchanging 150 emails with Kim Jong Nam. The two held wide-ranging conversations touching on everything from dynastic succession in North Korea to Kim Jong Nam’s life as an exile under constant surveillance. Malaysian authorities have detained several suspects in connection with Kim’s mysterious death on Monday. Police said in a statement that the investigation is ongoing and that they are trying to determine the cause of death. In the book, Kim, who was once regarded as a likely successor to his father, the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, denied that he ever wanted to take the top post and strongly criticized the tradition of dynastic succession in North Korea. In this world, if you are a person with normal thoughts, you can’t follow hereditary [succession] for three generations,” he said, according to the book. “It’s very doubtful that a young hereditary successor who only was taught for two years could possibly take over … absolute authority.” He added that he was “worried” about how much his brother, who “resembles Grandfather [Kim Il Sung] only in appearance,” could satisfy the citizens. Kim Jong Un took power in North Korea after his father’s death, before he had celebrated his 30th birthday. The power of the ruling Kim family’s bloodline is key to North Korean political dogma, and the reclusive country is the only communist state in the world to have been ruled by three generations of the same family. In the book, Kim Jong Nam repeatedly claimed his father did not favor hereditary succession, and added that his father was dragged down by people around him who would “flatter” Kim Jong Il only for the sake of protecting themselves.
