Kim Jong Uns Half-Brother Killed: Why Would He Be Assassinated? [View all]

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http://www.nbcnews.com/news/north-korea/kim-jong-un-s-half-brother-killed-why-would-he-n721201


Kim Jong Nam, who is believed to be in his mid-40s, was once considered a successor to the leadership. But he fell out of favor when he was caught trying to enter Japan on a fake passport in 2001. He said he wanted to visit Disneyland Tokyo — a symbol of the Westernization demonized by North Korea. Since then he has been critical of the regime but experts never considered him a direct threat to his half-brother's rule.

"Most North Koreans do not know of his existence and he ruled himself out as a political player long ago," according to James Edward Hoare, an associate fellow and North Korea expert at Chatham House, a London-based think tank. In this sense, it appeared his death would have no immediate benefits for the regime.

"It is not just the manner of it, which is brutal, but it's the fact that there's no pay-off," said Smith at the University of Central Lancashire.

It wouldn't be the first time Kim Jong Un, a youthful dictator still in his 30s, had meted out pitiless punishment.