Suspected N Korean heir facing Japan expulsion

Public family details of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il are scarce

TOKYO, Japan -- A man believed to be the eldest son and heir-apparent to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is to be sent to China after his detention this week for trying to enter Japan with a false passport.

A government source said that the man, who has not been formally identified but is very likely Kim Jong-nam, 29, was to be accepted Friday by China as part of a move to avoid a diplomatic incident.

The source said Kim and three other travelling companions -- two women and a young child -- would be sent to either Beijing or Shanghai.

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Details of the family of the secretive North Korean leader are murky but Kim Jong-nam, 29, is understood to have studied in Moscow and Geneva, and is known as the country's "Little General".

"There is a high possibility that a man who tried to enter Narita airport illegally may be the son of Kim Jong Il," Japan's Kyodo news agency reported.

It said Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi had held an emergency meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Yutaka Kazwashima to discuss the incident.

Police took the man into custody at Narita airport east of Tokyo after he arrived on Tuesday aboard a Japan Airlines flight from Singapore and was found to be carrying a fake Dominican Republic passport, Kyodo said.

"We have not received such reports," a Tokyo metropolitan police spokesman said.

The man, identified by Japanese media as Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of North Korea's secretive leader, was still in police custody and under investigation, Japanese media said.

Kyodo quoted Justice Ministry sources as saying Japanese officials were still trying to identify the man, but were considering deporting him to China.

EU talks

The man has denied that he is Kim Jong Il's son, Fuji television said. He described himself as South Korean, public broadcaster NHK said.

The man was traveling with three other people and three of the group were found to be carrying invalid passports, TBS television said.

Kim Jong-nam's mother is believed to be Sung Hye-rim, although she and Kim Jong Il are never thought to have married and separated many years ago.

Kim Jong-il, who was holding talks Thursday in Pyongyang with a high-level European Union delegation, is believed to have been grooming Kim Jong-nam as his heir.

Kim Jong-nam accompanied his father to China in January, where he was believed to have witnessed how his country's biggest ally opened its economy to the outside world, the Chinese magazine Guang Jiao Jing has reported.

Kim Jong-nam is known to have a thorough knowledge of computers and to visit Japan frequently to learn Japanese, the magazine said.

He is also reported to hold an important position in the North's People's Army.

"North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has plans to designate Kim Jong-nam as his successor," the newsmonthly said.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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North Korea

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