Kim Jong-nam was the eldest son of late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and the elder half-brother of current leader Kim Jong-un.
Jong-nam was born in May 1971 in Pyongyang. His mother was North Korea's film actress Song Hye-rim. She was the daughter of South Korean communist intellectuals who migrated to the North during the Korean War.
She was four or five years older than Kim Jong-il and was still married to another man (with whom she had a child) when they began their romantic relationship.
By the conservative standards of North Korean society, this was a fairly sordid relationship, and for many years Kim Jong-il concealed his common law wife and new son from his father, Kim Il-sung. (Have a small look ,coming soon)
At the time of Kim Jong-nam's birth, Kim Jong-il was the leading candidate to succeed his father, and details of his relationship with Ms Song, if they had become public, could have derailed his ambitions (particularly as his nearest political rival was his despised stepmother).
