Kim Jong-nam’s round face darkened as the conversation turned to the subject of his father’s funeral.

The eldest son of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il was sitting in a restaurant in Singapore, describing his brief trip home to pay respects at his father’s vast state funeral in December 2011.

The short visit to snowy Pyongyang had rattled him and he left as soon as he could, he said, fearing that if he stayed longer he might not be able to leave. He spoke for only a moment about his half-brother, Kim Jong-un, the new leader of North Korea.

“He said he couldn’t understand why his brother disliked him so much,” said a friend, who was with him at the restaurant. “He said it in this innocuous, childlike way and we moved on to a different topic.”

The young dictator’s hatred of his older half-sibling appears to have caught up with Mr Kim in the budget terminal of Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Monday.