N.Koreans unaware of Kim’s half brother’s death

TIL Desk/World/Seoul-North Koreans do not appear to be aware of the death of leader Kim Jong-un’s half brother as Pyongyang has tightened control over the inflow of outside information, sources here said on Friday. But despite the regime’s surveillance, “it is only a matter of time before the news spreads as more North Korean residents have secret access to outside information,” they said.

Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of late former leader Kim Jong-il, was killed in an airport in Malaysia on Monday after being attacked by two women who are suspected to have used some sort of poison. It has yet to be confirmed whether North Korea was behind the latest killing, but Seoul’s intelligence agency said that Kim Jong-un has issued a “standing order” to murder his sibling after he assumed power in 2011.

Many North Koreans neither seem to be aware of Kim’s death nor know who Kim Jong-nam is, the sources said, in an indication that shows the regime has controlled all information about him. “I’ve never heard about that news,” said a source who is living in North Korea’s provinces bordering China. “Isn’t Kim Jong-un the eldest son of late former leader Kim Jong-il?