WEBVTT - Like Father, Unlike Son 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:08.600 Here's something you wouldn't expect about Kim Jong il. He 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:11.840 wasn't born on the divine slopes of Mount pet two. 0:00:12.760 --> 0:00:17.280 He wasn't even born in Korea. He spent the first 0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:20.200 four years of his life living in the eastern stretches 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:25.159 of the Soviet Union, a logging camp in Siberia. To 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:30.080 be exact. According to Russian birth records, Kim Jong Il's 0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:38.239 name is actually Yuri Irsinovich Kim it was the Korean 0:00:38.280 --> 0:00:43.000 Peninsula was occupied and controlled by Japan, and Kim's father, 0:00:43.600 --> 0:00:47.360 the future Supreme Leader, Kim Il sung, was a guerrilla 0:00:47.520 --> 0:00:51.040 freedom fighter, the leader of a rag tag platoon of 0:00:51.120 --> 0:00:56.880 communist soldiers fighting Japanese imperialists. But when World War Two erupted, 0:00:57.480 --> 0:01:00.120 Kim Il sung fled into the Soviet Union with a 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:04.440 female soldier, a dogged fighter who had served as his bodyguard. 0:01:05.440 --> 0:01:11.280 Her name was Kim Changshuk. According to people who knew her, 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:15.720 Chungsuk was a warm hearted, but rugged and fearless woman. 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:20.080 When she was a teenager, her family had been murdered 0:01:20.080 --> 0:01:25.319 by Japanese settlers. She had sworn revenge, joined the Korean 0:01:25.360 --> 0:01:29.360 cause and met Kimio sung on the battlefield. She even 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:33.600 saved the man's life from a deadly ambush, and it 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:37.479 was during this time in the early forties, a Tongsuk 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:41.840 and Kimilsung fell in love, became unofficially married and had 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:47.600 two boys, Yuri Rsenovich, lovingly nicknamed Urah and his little 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:54.160 brother Shoulda. In Russia, the children received endless attention and affection, 0:01:55.520 --> 0:02:00.960 but in when Korea was liberated from Japan, the Kim 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:05.960 family returned home. Kim Il sung, who had ingratiated himself 0:02:06.000 --> 0:02:10.320 with Soviet leadership, was installed by Joseph Stalin as North 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:14.680 Korea's chairman. For a young Kim Jong Il and his brother, 0:02:15.400 --> 0:02:20.799 leaving Russia was difficult. Their parents became busy and distant. 0:02:21.800 --> 0:02:25.440 Their dad was occupied trying to build a communist utopia, 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:29.839 and their mother was often away traveling the country as 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:38.600 his political representative. And then in September, tragedy struck. Kim 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:42.640 Jong Zook was pregnant and Kim Jong Il, just eight 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:45.440 years old, waited in the palace for his mom to 0:02:45.440 --> 0:02:51.200 bring home a baby sister. Hours later, a family member arrived, 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:56.120 tears streaming down her cheeks. Kim Jong Ille was told 0:02:56.120 --> 0:03:01.960 to prepare instead for a funeral. The baby had been lost, 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:08.880 and so too had his mother. Kim Jong Ill panicked, 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:12.119 he sprinted out the door in the direction of the hospital. 0:03:12.680 --> 0:03:16.080 Guards swooped in and grabbed him. As an officer lugged 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:19.639 him back into the house, the little boy began wailing uncontrollably, 0:03:20.000 --> 0:03:24.200 calling out for his mother. At the funeral, Kim Jong 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:28.720 Il was inconsolable. He clung to his dead mother's body 0:03:28.840 --> 0:03:32.440 and wept in her arms. When a group of elders 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:36.120 tried to lead the boy away, his father stopped them, saying, 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:40.920 tomorrow you will have no mother anymore, and who's embraced 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:45.160 to cry? Little did the boy know, but the supreme 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:49.720 leader was already thinking about his wife's replacement. A grieving 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:53.440 Kim Joang Ill would watch with jealousy as his father 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:58.320 built a new family around a new woman, growing even 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:03.400 more distant from his eldest on. That's the strange thing 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:06.920 about the stories of Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Nam. 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:11.960 The two generations share an eerie parallel. Both, in one 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:16.159 way or another, would lose their mothers and childhood, and 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:19.800 both would spend the rest of their lives fighting these 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:23.320 other new families for the love and attention of their father, 0:04:23.920 --> 0:04:28.240 the supreme leader. The result would be a series of 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:33.120 cruel family games of manipulative in fighting that would do 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:37.160 much more than alter the dynamic inside the gilded palaces 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:43.200 of Kung Yang. It would change the course of world history. 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:50.640 My name is even Lee, and in this episode, the 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:55.000 tale of two generations of Kim's vying for power in 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:59.920 a world of subterfuge, espionage and deceit, and the mistake 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:03.320 that may have caused Kim jong Nam the crown and 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:05.919 his life. She takes a gun away, and she says, 0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:09.080 you're not getting any stupid ideas. Be a man and 0:05:09.160 --> 0:05:12.440 go forth and lead your country in the East Asia. 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:15.200 People around the court like to go on and on 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:18.680 about which branch has what it takes to be the 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:23.120 leading branch of the family. I think that it was 0:05:23.920 --> 0:05:28.279 due to the mothers that the succession decision was made. 0:05:29.520 --> 0:05:41.760 This is big brother. While Kim Jong Il's mother had 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:45.200 died in childbirth, Kim Jong Nam's mother, you may remember, 0:05:45.800 --> 0:05:50.360 was still alive. She was exiled to a mental facility 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:55.320 in Russia, leaving the young Kim Jong Nam effectively motherless 0:05:56.080 --> 0:06:00.240 and the states secret And then in nine a d 0:06:00.680 --> 0:06:04.680 When the boy was nine years old, his father agreed 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:08.760 to send him to a boarding school abroad. Here's journalists 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:14.159 and fifield. Kim Jong Nam was living this very abnormal life. 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:16.560 You know, he didn't go to school in North Korea. 0:06:16.760 --> 0:06:21.800 He was confined to one of these palatial compounds. And 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:24.640 his grandmother actually said, you know, this is no way 0:06:24.640 --> 0:06:27.800 for a kid to live. So they the first idea 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:30.279 was to go off to the Soviet Union, to Moscow, 0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:34.760 but Kim Jong Nam was no fan of Russia. Like 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:40.360 a true spoiled prince, he whined constantly. His biggest complaint 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:45.279 how dirty the Soviet Union's toilets were. So. At the 0:06:45.320 --> 0:06:48.400 behest of his uncle Chang Song Tech, the boy was 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:52.479 sent to Switzerland. Joan Song Tech had found out that 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:57.960 lots of celebrities sent their children to the school in Geneva. 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:02.479 A Taie Prince is Michael Douglas had all gone to 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:05.719 the school in Geneva, so Kim Jong Nam moved to 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:09.560 Switzerland to attend the International School of Geneva, one of 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:14.800 the most diverse academies on the planet. The institution overflowed 0:07:14.800 --> 0:07:18.120 with the sons and daughters of wealthy dignitaries and diplomats 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:21.480 from all over the world, and even boasted alumnis such 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:27.480 as Indira Gandhi. Kim's cousin and playmate Enamo, came with him. 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:31.160 The two received fake names and fake passports. They were 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:34.840 given alibis and told everybody they were the children of 0:07:34.880 --> 0:07:40.080 diplomats to avoid bumping into nosey South Korean students who 0:07:40.120 --> 0:07:44.400 were usually enrolled in English speaking classes. The two cousins 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:50.360 two courses in French. It's worth noting they did not 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:55.520 speak French. One of those nosy South Korean students, by 0:07:55.520 --> 0:07:58.960 the way, happened to be doctors Hung Yun Lee, professor 0:07:59.080 --> 0:08:03.400 at Tufts Universe At many years ago. I enrolled at 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:09.920 the International School of Geneva, Switzerland sometime in September. Not 0:08:10.080 --> 0:08:13.400 only did doctor Lee attend the same school, he attended 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:17.160 at the same time as Kim Jong Nam. I enrolled 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:20.600 on the very same day. Kim Jong Nam was three 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:23.920 years younger than I, so we never were in the 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:28.440 same classroom. Hardly ever cross path. But the South Korean 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:33.080 ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva mistook Kim Jong 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:36.880 Nam as a South Korean student and struck up a 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:41.400 conversation with Kim jong Nam, and the North Korean princeling said, 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:45.280 I'm actually from North Korea. To say the least, the 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:48.000 regime would have its hands full keeping Kim jong Nam 0:08:48.080 --> 0:08:53.360 a secret. North Korea watched the potential successor closely. Even 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:57.080 his cousin in Am enrolled in the same classes just 0:08:57.320 --> 0:08:59.680 to keep a protective eye on him. Even though she 0:08:59.800 --> 0:09:03.480 was five years older than him, she went to his class, 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:07.360 she was denied a normal upbringing. She was always five 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:10.679 years behind the with him. The regime even rented a 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:14.520 fifth floor apartment across the street to monitor the princeling. 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:18.640 But constant surveillance couldn't stop the fact that Kim jong 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:23.240 Nam would be exposed to everything. Europe offered a mixed economy, 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:27.360 a free press, and a vast expanse of art, culture 0:09:27.960 --> 0:09:32.720 and different ways of thinking. For years, this Western playground 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:36.960 distracted him from the gossip of Kongyang, namely that his 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:40.520 father was building a new family with a new step 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:44.839 mom and two younger half brothers. Instead, Kim jong Nam 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:48.839 spent his teenage years in blissful ignorance, and as he 0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:51.800 hobbed nobbed with the richest and most privileged children, in 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:57.120 the world. He became something of a snotty playboy. At school, 0:09:57.200 --> 0:10:00.400 Kim jong Nam befriended the children of famous French thing ears. 0:10:00.679 --> 0:10:04.000 He went for joy rides and Mercedes benzes with moneyed 0:10:04.040 --> 0:10:08.079 Arab princes. He let loose on the Riviera with hotel 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:10.800 heiresses and skied the Alps with kids who had their 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:15.760 own Swiss bank accounts. He partied and snorted drugs. He 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:18.320 bought booze with his fake I d and drained the 0:10:18.320 --> 0:10:22.720 bottles by night. He slept with women and lost count 0:10:22.760 --> 0:10:28.400 of how many, And then in it all came crashing 0:10:28.960 --> 0:10:35.480 to an end. Kim Jong Nam turned eighteen and his 0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:40.600 father demanded that he returned to kung Yang. When he arrived, 0:10:40.920 --> 0:10:45.600 Residence Number fifteen was boiling with gossip. Kim Jong Ill 0:10:45.760 --> 0:10:50.520 had children with another woman Uh, and then Kim Jong 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:55.600 Ill's affections within show at upon that family. To put 0:10:55.600 --> 0:10:58.880 it lightly, the two branches of the family were not 0:10:59.200 --> 0:11:03.160 getting along. This is something that seems to have really 0:11:03.760 --> 0:11:07.520 emotionally Scott Kim jong Nam, and he felt cast aside. 0:11:07.960 --> 0:11:13.320 Residents number fifteen, according to Anna Fifield, seethed with rivalry. 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:16.320 As she wrote in her book The Great successor quote. 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:20.319 They were convinced that the other woman was a manipulative 0:11:20.400 --> 0:11:23.959 shrew who was poisoning Kim Jong Ill against them. They 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:27.280 talked about whether the woman was fat and derided her 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:32.239 as half jack. They even concocted vicious nicknames for the stepmother, 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:36.000 calling her punct coal, a slur that means hammer nose, 0:11:36.440 --> 0:11:40.439 but with a twist referencing the gambling game pachinko to 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:46.199 snipe at her Japanese roots. But insults couldn't heal the hurt. 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:50.080 When Kim jong Nam was sent to Europe, his branch 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:54.679 of the family had become an afterthought. Now they felt 0:11:54.720 --> 0:12:00.720 second class, neglected, and the implications were obvious. The situation 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:05.360 harmed Kim Jong Nam's political future, But for those close 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:10.240 to the Kim family, this drama wasn't anything unusual. It 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:14.680 was just a ja vu because decades earlier, when Kim 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:18.800 Jong Il was a little boy, similar complaints were swirling 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:23.440 in the palace air. After the death of his mom. 0:12:23.520 --> 0:12:26.960 His dad had come home with a new mistress, and 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:31.199 with this new woman in the picture, his political future 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:35.840 had been at risk too. The story of how Kim 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:39.760 Jong Ill clawed his way to the top when we return. 0:12:55.679 --> 0:12:59.520 Truth be told, Kim jong Il had a tenuous relationship 0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:03.640 with his father long before this other woman stepped in, 0:13:04.480 --> 0:13:07.840 and that's because of a traumatic event that took place 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:11.800 when Kim jong Il men known as Udah, was just 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:20.520 a little boy. It's Dah and his little brother Shouldah 0:13:20.600 --> 0:13:23.600 are playing alone near the edge of a pond. Udah 0:13:23.679 --> 0:13:29.400 is around six shouda four. The boys grapple and horseplay 0:13:29.440 --> 0:13:33.240 around the shallows, splashing and dunking each other's heads under 0:13:33.280 --> 0:13:36.920 the surface. Udah lifts himself out of the water, but 0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:40.640 when little Shuda tries to climb out, Udah, the bullying 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:45.720 big brother, playfully pushes him back in. The boys laugh, 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:49.120 and then Shouldah tries to get out a second time, 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:52.840 but Udah shoves him right back into the murky lagoon. 0:13:53.760 --> 0:13:56.760 Udah teases his little brother and continues the cruel game 0:13:56.840 --> 0:14:04.079 again and again and again. Minutes later, the Supreme Leader 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:06.720 rushes to the pond and finds a young Kim jong 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:10.480 Il is standing awkwardly at the water's edge. What's the matter? 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:15.080 What's the matter? He repeats the question over and over. 0:14:15.320 --> 0:14:20.240 The little Kim jong yellen speechless. I'm asking you what 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:22.480 this is all about. Look at me, Look at me. 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:26.320 Kim jong il just stands there, his face to the ground, 0:14:27.280 --> 0:14:32.200 arrowed in shame. What have you been doing? Just offshore, 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:37.480 floating in the water is the lifeless body of his 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:44.960 little brother. Kim Jong Il's official biography makes no mention 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:49.320 of his dead brother, but documents captured by American soldiers 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:52.040 after the Korean War show that Kim Il sung was 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:56.040 so heartbroken that he invited Buddhist monks and a shaman 0:14:56.080 --> 0:14:59.960 to pray at the side of the drowning. According to Defect, 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:02.920 they're close to the Kim family. Young Kim jong il 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:08.680 would spend the following years a quote lonely and guilty child, quiet, 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:14.600 depressed and fearful of what his father thought of him. 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:18.240 The dual tragedy of losing his brother and mother would 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:21.840 forever alter Kim Jong il's relationship with his father, who 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:24.720 had already started a separate family with a new woman 0:15:25.400 --> 0:15:30.000 and new sons. And that's what sparked a competition that 0:15:30.080 --> 0:15:35.080 would reshape the politics of North Korea. You see, during 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:38.680 the DPR case infancy, Kimo Song was more likely to 0:15:38.680 --> 0:15:41.880 pass power to a fellow comrade rather than his kids. 0:15:42.680 --> 0:15:47.000 The whole concept of hereditary succession was anathema to communist teaching. 0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:51.800 In fact, the North Korean Dictionary of Political Terminologies lambasted 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:57.080 the practice quote hereditary succession is a reactionary custom of 0:15:57.120 --> 0:16:01.960 exploitative societies. Originally a product of slave societies, it was 0:16:02.080 --> 0:16:05.680 later adopted by feudal lords as a means to perpetuate 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:10.080 dictatorial rule. But then at some point Kim il sung 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:15.560 changed his mind. By the mid nineties sixties, the Supreme 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:19.520 Leader made it clear that power would remain in the family. 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:23.960 Kim Jong il, of course, was the first and eldest son. 0:16:24.480 --> 0:16:28.440 By Confucian tradition, the throne should have been his, but 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:34.040 his spot wasn't guaranteed. Kim il sung clearly preferred his 0:16:34.200 --> 0:16:38.720 two youngest sons over his firstborn. Kim Jong Ille felt 0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:42.000 the odds were stacked against him, and since his brother 0:16:42.080 --> 0:16:45.360 and mother were dead, he didn't have many advocates in 0:16:45.400 --> 0:16:51.680 the regime, so he deployed a plan. At the time, 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:56.920 there was no true single party rule, yet multiple communist 0:16:56.960 --> 0:17:04.800 groups were jockeying for influence. Lumble Over Kimilsung knew that 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:08.359 the stability of the country and his pursuit of power 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:13.679 depended on consolidating their support. He gave impassioned speeches like 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:19.720 the one you're hearing now to rally groups behind his leadership. 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:25.520 Here's Michael Madden Kim Il sung. When he first became 0:17:25.640 --> 0:17:28.720 leader in forty five, he had to contend with different 0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:33.000 factions of nationalist Koreans. Kim Il sung doesn't have ultimate power, 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:37.679 so his whole pursuit from to nifty is basically to 0:17:37.760 --> 0:17:42.320 dominate the North Korean political system. Kim Il sung strategy 0:17:42.440 --> 0:17:46.040 centered on a combination of hard and soft power by 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:52.200 both cracking skulls and poisoning minds. When he wasn't eliminating 0:17:52.240 --> 0:17:56.360 traitors through bloodshed, the leader was focusing his attention on 0:17:56.480 --> 0:18:01.480 winning people's trust. He enlisted advisor to boost his reputation 0:18:02.080 --> 0:18:06.720 as a person whose wisdom, knowledge, and power or unmatched. 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:11.119 All of a sudden, peddling propaganda became a way to 0:18:11.200 --> 0:18:15.560 win favor with the leader. A palatial arms race ensued. 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:19.639 Who could praise and idolize the supreme leader the most. 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:24.840 This was Kim Jong Il's wheelhouse. As a lover of 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:29.359 theater and movies, he was a master of artifice. He 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:33.040 turned out films and news articles depicting his father not 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:36.520 just as a wise and compassionate strong man, but as 0:18:36.560 --> 0:18:40.440 all knowing. Kim Jong Il, in other words, would help 0:18:40.560 --> 0:18:46.440 transform his father into a living god. As part of this, 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:50.680 Kim Jong Ill made everybody in North Korea where lapel 0:18:50.760 --> 0:18:55.400 pins of his father's face. He built dozens of mansions 0:18:55.440 --> 0:18:58.840 for his dad, and funneled millions of dollars into erecting 0:18:58.920 --> 0:19:03.359 statues of his likeness. And so Kim Il Sung the 0:19:03.400 --> 0:19:08.679 man became Kim Il Sung, the legend, and the leader 0:19:09.280 --> 0:19:16.120 relished the attention. As more people praised him, the more 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:22.000 the personality called grew into a cartoonish mythology. The history 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:27.080 books literally changed. Kim Il Sung transformed from a meager 0:19:27.160 --> 0:19:30.720 guerrilla fighter to the beating heart of the resistance movement, 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:35.960 the man who had singlehandedly liberated the country, and people 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:41.679 believed it. In nine, journalist Bradley Martin visited North Korea 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:45.840 for the World Table Tennis Championships. He realized that North 0:19:45.920 --> 0:19:51.240 Korea operated with a peculiar piety. When I first went there, 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:55.840 it clearly was a religious state that the people worshiped 0:19:55.920 --> 0:20:00.439 Kimmel Song, and in his opinion, it was sincere the 0:20:00.560 --> 0:20:05.800 worship was not purely a matter of their submitting to government, 0:20:05.920 --> 0:20:11.440 but they wanted to worship him. They loved him, and 0:20:11.480 --> 0:20:15.440 I detected very little falsity in the expressions of praise, 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:20.520 and it was very much a religious state. Kim Jong 0:20:20.560 --> 0:20:24.360 Il's propaganda efforts would change the face of North Korea, 0:20:24.920 --> 0:20:27.320 and they put him back in his father's good graces, 0:20:28.400 --> 0:20:31.720 but it still didn't guarantee that he'd inherit the throne. 0:20:32.560 --> 0:20:36.320 The one thing standing in Kim Jong Il's way was 0:20:36.400 --> 0:20:40.840 his new stepmother, who was positioning her firstborn son, named 0:20:40.920 --> 0:20:45.439 Kim Chang Ill as a successor. In East Asia, people 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:48.080 around the court like to go on and on about 0:20:48.200 --> 0:20:51.560 which branch has what it takes to be the leading 0:20:51.560 --> 0:20:55.919 branch of the family. That was pretty much as it 0:20:56.080 --> 0:21:00.159 was with Kim Jong il and his brother Kim Young. 0:21:02.920 --> 0:21:07.040 Kim Kang yell was a terrifying opponent. He was the 0:21:07.119 --> 0:21:10.280 spitting image of their father. He had a much more 0:21:10.320 --> 0:21:14.600 affectionate relationship with him too, and no amount of flattering 0:21:14.720 --> 0:21:18.399 publicity could replace the fact that Kim Il sung spent 0:21:18.560 --> 0:21:24.000 his nights sleeping next to Kangiel's mother. Propaganda was no 0:21:24.119 --> 0:21:28.399 match for pillow talk. Kim Joang Ill realized that in 0:21:28.520 --> 0:21:31.160 order to become the front runner, he'd have to do 0:21:31.240 --> 0:21:34.200 more than boost his father into the image of a god. 0:21:35.240 --> 0:21:39.720 To destroy his little brother's prospects, he'd have to eliminate 0:21:39.800 --> 0:21:51.840 the power of the other woman. Two decades later, Kim 0:21:51.880 --> 0:21:56.840 jong Nam would face a similar challenge with his stepmother. 0:21:57.960 --> 0:22:02.160 When he returned from Europe. The dynamics of palace life 0:22:02.640 --> 0:22:09.280 had changed. His father once so loving hardly visited Residence 0:22:09.320 --> 0:22:12.680 Number fifteen anymore. It was as if the Chong Nam 0:22:12.760 --> 0:22:16.640 side of the family didn't exist. Kim Jong Il's other 0:22:16.760 --> 0:22:20.639 family included a five year old son, Kim Jong Un, 0:22:21.320 --> 0:22:24.919 and their father devoted all of his free time and 0:22:25.119 --> 0:22:29.560 energy to this little boy. But what really shocked and 0:22:29.600 --> 0:22:33.000 dismayed Kim jong Nam's branch of the family was how 0:22:33.160 --> 0:22:37.720 brazen his father's new mistress, Ko Yuan Ki was acting. 0:22:37.800 --> 0:22:40.240 Up until this point, Kim Jong Il's wives were to 0:22:40.320 --> 0:22:43.280 run the household. They were not to be involved in politics. 0:22:43.760 --> 0:22:47.440 He changes his mind about that with Koyeng Hui. As 0:22:47.480 --> 0:22:54.920 Michael Madden explains, Couse shamelessly inserted herself into politics. Kyeong 0:22:54.960 --> 0:22:57.199 Whui is allowed to talk to the political age that 0:22:57.240 --> 0:23:00.000 come by the house to brief Kim Jong Ill. That's 0:23:00.000 --> 0:23:03.200 where Koyonghui starts to attain a degree of political importance. 0:23:03.600 --> 0:23:06.320 She's a close steward a selection of Kim Jong Ill's 0:23:06.359 --> 0:23:10.080 top guys. The Kim jong Nam side of the family, 0:23:10.520 --> 0:23:14.560 koyeng He was just manipulating the man. She was nothing 0:23:14.600 --> 0:23:18.560 but a gold digger, an illegitimate concubine, unworthy of the 0:23:18.600 --> 0:23:22.760 title of wife, and she was part Japanese North Koreas 0:23:22.760 --> 0:23:27.840 sworn enemy. And so to Kim jong Nam's family, her 0:23:27.960 --> 0:23:33.639 kids weren't successors. They were illegitimate children and thus illegitimate heirs. 0:23:34.480 --> 0:23:38.280 But like the generation before him, Kim Jong Nam's mother 0:23:38.600 --> 0:23:43.040 was out of the picture. Kim Jong Nam's mother had 0:23:43.040 --> 0:23:47.000 basically had a mental breakdown and gone to Moscow and 0:23:47.160 --> 0:23:49.800 stayed abroad for almost the rest of her life, and 0:23:49.840 --> 0:23:54.720 so she was literally out of the inner circle. She 0:23:54.800 --> 0:23:58.280 was far away. She didn't have much influence. Koyeong He, 0:23:58.760 --> 0:24:03.199 on the other hand, Kim Jong UN's mother, she was 0:24:03.600 --> 0:24:06.480 very much an in a circle. She was at Kim 0:24:06.560 --> 0:24:11.320 Jong Il's side. She was making decisions, she was advising him, 0:24:11.440 --> 0:24:15.880 and she had been trying to position both of her 0:24:15.960 --> 0:24:20.399 sons as the heir apparent to Kim jong il, so 0:24:20.480 --> 0:24:24.200 she did things like making sure that they both got 0:24:24.200 --> 0:24:27.239 the military uniforms and were called little generals just like 0:24:27.359 --> 0:24:30.640 Kim jong nam was. She made sure that they went 0:24:30.720 --> 0:24:35.000 into like the North Korean equivalent of West Point, so 0:24:35.160 --> 0:24:39.600 that they had that military training and they could justify 0:24:39.880 --> 0:24:44.200 leading a country that had a military first policy. She 0:24:44.320 --> 0:24:48.280 was actively lobbying for them behind the scenes. I think 0:24:48.520 --> 0:24:53.600 that it was due to the mothers that this succession 0:24:53.760 --> 0:24:58.360 decision was made, and Koeng he knew a finger too 0:24:58.600 --> 0:25:04.040 about getting on the leaders good side. In fact, she 0:25:04.240 --> 0:25:07.360 became one of the most important people in the regime. 0:25:08.440 --> 0:25:11.480 At that point, Kim jong il had taken the reins 0:25:11.480 --> 0:25:15.440 of decision making, with his father remaining a mere figurehead. 0:25:16.320 --> 0:25:19.240 But one day, Kim jong il was riding a horse 0:25:19.680 --> 0:25:23.720 when he fell off and suffered a severe head injury. 0:25:23.920 --> 0:25:26.199 It was so bad that the regime flew in a 0:25:26.280 --> 0:25:32.480 neurologist from France. According to Michael Madden, with her husband incapacitated, 0:25:33.040 --> 0:25:36.040 Koyong he stepped in during that point. During that point, 0:25:36.320 --> 0:25:39.480 Young we basically starts helping him with paperwork that's coming 0:25:39.480 --> 0:25:43.720 into the house, and so for a whole year koyong 0:25:43.800 --> 0:25:48.320 He acts as Kim jong Il's top advisor. And then 0:25:48.640 --> 0:25:52.600 when Kim jong Il officially become supreme leader, she saves 0:25:52.600 --> 0:25:58.280 her husband's life a second time. Goes by a room 0:25:58.280 --> 0:26:00.160 in one of the houses and sees Kim jong Il 0:26:00.200 --> 0:26:02.800 cleaning his gun. Kim jong Il is going to shoot 0:26:02.880 --> 0:26:05.600 himself in the head and commit suicide. She takes a 0:26:05.640 --> 0:26:09.120 gun away, and she says, you're not getting any stupid ideas. 0:26:09.400 --> 0:26:12.320 Be a man and go forth and lead the country. 0:26:12.400 --> 0:26:14.520 So this is where Kim jong UN's mother is sort 0:26:14.560 --> 0:26:17.920 of endeared to the leader, where she becomes a political 0:26:17.960 --> 0:26:22.240 force and a political influence. This is where Kim jong 0:26:22.320 --> 0:26:26.880 Nam's path diverges from his father's. Kim Jong Il prevented 0:26:26.920 --> 0:26:31.240 his step family from stealing the successorship by well sucking 0:26:31.320 --> 0:26:35.440 up to his father. It was filial piety on steroids, 0:26:36.080 --> 0:26:42.120 But when Kim jong Nam's stepmother interfered, he rebelled. Rather 0:26:42.160 --> 0:26:46.200 than elevate his father's image, he escaped his royal compound 0:26:46.560 --> 0:26:49.840 and drank his way across kong Yang. There was a 0:26:49.920 --> 0:26:52.520 period of time when Kim jong nam was in his 0:26:52.600 --> 0:26:56.240 twenties and was essentially kind of locked in this gilded 0:26:56.359 --> 0:26:58.760 cage and Pyongyang. You know, he was this young guy 0:26:59.400 --> 0:27:02.840 wanting to be you know, socializing and having fun and things, 0:27:02.840 --> 0:27:05.040 and he wasn't able to do that in Pyongyang. So 0:27:05.960 --> 0:27:09.919 him and his cousin Nam Mock would go out in 0:27:10.000 --> 0:27:12.879 one of the regime mercedes, you know, at nighttime, go 0:27:13.040 --> 0:27:15.719 joy riding around the place and kind of burn off 0:27:15.760 --> 0:27:20.520 a little steam, and words spread fast. Keng Yang's elite 0:27:20.560 --> 0:27:24.719 complained that Kim jong nam was a belligerent and obnoxious drunk. 0:27:25.200 --> 0:27:29.040 He made people bow when he entered a room. One time, 0:27:29.359 --> 0:27:33.320 the drunken prince entered a hotel lobby, pulled out a pistol, 0:27:33.840 --> 0:27:37.800 and littered the ceiling with bullet holes, all because somebody 0:27:37.840 --> 0:27:42.560 had taken his parking space. Their speculation that these stories 0:27:42.560 --> 0:27:47.160 aren't actually true, but in kiang Yang that didn't matter. 0:27:48.119 --> 0:27:51.760 These rumors were circulating and they were making Kim Jong 0:27:51.800 --> 0:27:56.560 ill look bad. So when he found out he went dessert. 0:27:56.960 --> 0:28:00.800 Kim Jong Il's was extremely angry about this um and 0:28:00.880 --> 0:28:03.879 basically put them on the house arresed uh in their 0:28:04.440 --> 0:28:08.280 compound in Pyongyang. He denied food to them. They had 0:28:08.320 --> 0:28:10.119 to live on what they had, and you know, they 0:28:10.119 --> 0:28:12.639 were really cut off and punished as a result of this. 0:28:13.000 --> 0:28:15.920 Kim Jong Nam's father even threatened to send his son 0:28:16.119 --> 0:28:20.520 and extended family to a labor camp. But nobody in 0:28:20.600 --> 0:28:24.919 residence Number fifteen blamed the young prince. They blamed his stepmother. 0:28:25.640 --> 0:28:30.040 According to Chong Nam's cousin Enamo quote, the other woman's 0:28:30.080 --> 0:28:35.360 fingerprints were all over this. There is a suggestion, yeah 0:28:35.359 --> 0:28:38.760 that it was Kim Jong's mother who took off Kim 0:28:38.800 --> 0:28:41.640 jong Il and tried to make them look bad. Gossip 0:28:41.680 --> 0:28:44.440 spread that it was actually the stepmother who had snitched 0:28:44.480 --> 0:28:48.560 on Chong Nam. As Fifield writes in her book, Koyong 0:28:48.640 --> 0:28:52.280 he had quote encouraged Kim Jong Il to allow his 0:28:52.360 --> 0:28:55.120 oldest son more freedom, then rat it on the young 0:28:55.160 --> 0:28:59.520 man when he enjoyed that freedom. The family was convinced 0:28:59.600 --> 0:29:04.040 that this other woman would do anything to tarnish the 0:29:04.080 --> 0:29:09.960 reputation of the man competing with her sons. In his 0:29:10.080 --> 0:29:13.600 mid twenties, Kim jong Nam did clean up his act 0:29:13.720 --> 0:29:17.960 and began joining his father on official summits, even accompanying 0:29:18.040 --> 0:29:22.920 him on a trip to Mount pet two. He began 0:29:23.000 --> 0:29:26.800 studying economics, a sign that he was destined for big 0:29:26.840 --> 0:29:31.440 things and was given a military post. Here's Bradley Martin. 0:29:32.000 --> 0:29:37.040 When Kim jong Nam was twenty four, his father presented 0:29:37.160 --> 0:29:42.520 him the general's uniform. Everybody started calling him general. That 0:29:42.600 --> 0:29:45.600