Clip uploaded on YouTube shows man believed to be Kim Han-sol, saying: ‘My father has been killed a few days ago’

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

A video has emerged of a man claiming to be the son of the assassinated half-brother of North Korea’s supreme leader, Kim Jong-un, saying he is safely with his mother and sister.

The Guardian was unable to immediately confirm the man as Kim Jong-nam’s son, Kim Han-sol, who is believed to be 22. However, an official at the South Korean national intelligence service’s public affairs office and an aide to a parliamentary intelligence committee said they had determined it was authentic.

Kim Jong-nam was attacked by two women in Kuala Lumpur airport on 13 February and an autopsy revealed he died of poising from the nerve agent VX, a banned chemical weapon known to be produced in North Korean state laboratories.

Kim Jong-nam was once the North Korean heir apparent but went into exile in 2001 after falling out of favour with his father, Kim Jong-il. After his half-brother took power in 2014, he became extremely paranoid about his safety, a close friend said.

The video was uploaded to the YouTube page of a previously unknown group, Cheollima Civil Defense, which claimed to have “extracted” vulnerable members of Kim Jong-nam’s family with the help of the Dutch, US and South Korean authorities.

It said it was keeping them under protection in an undisclosed location.

In the video, the young man says in English: “My name is Kim Han-sol, from North Korea, part of the Kim family.



“My father has been killed a few days ago. I’m currently with my mother and my sister. We are very grateful to …” he says, before the audio cuts off.

The man shows what appears to be a North Korean diplomatic passport as evidence of his identity, but the page that shows his particulars is digitally obscured.

The 40-second video ends with him saying: “We hope this gets better soon.”

There is no indication where or when the video was made but if the video is authentic, it would be the family’s first public statement since the murder.

The man closely resembled Kim Han-sol, who was last interviewed on camera in 2012 by former Finnish defence minister Elisabeth Rehn. A voice analysis institute said there was a “high probability” both videos featured the same speaker.

Although he was born in Pyongyang in 1995, Kim Han-sol has spent most of his life outside the country, living in Macau with his immediate family. In 2013, he reportedly moved to France to study at the prestigious Sciences Po university and is believed to have planned to move to Oxford University this year.

In the 2012 interview, Kim Han-sol, 17 at the time, said he had “always dreamed that one day I would go back and make things better, and make things easier for the people back there. I also dream of unification.”

He added that he visited North Korea every summer to meet relatives. But asked about his uncle, he said: “I don’t really know how he became a dictator because first of all it was between him and my grandfather.”

It is not clear who is behind the organisation that released the video, Cheollima Civil Defense, or why part of the audio is cut.

The group released a statement alongside the video saying the whereabouts of the family would not be addressed.

“The three family members were met quickly and relocated to safety. We have in the past addressed other urgent needs for protection,” the statement read.

The website on which the statement and video was posted was registered on Saturday, according to Whois database records, which discloses website ownership. The group appears to have used a Panama-based protection service to hide ownership of its website address.

“Cheollima” is the name given to a mythical horse in Chinese and Korean folklore, said to be able to travel over great distances. The term is used in North Korean propaganda to symbolise rapid economic development, as well as to name streets, restaurants and other domestic brands.

The statement on the website provided an encrypted email address for people to “offer help” and requested donations via the digital Bitcoin currency.

The group thanked the Netherlands ambassador to North and South Korea, Lody Embrechts, for his “timely and strong response” to the group’s request for help. Embrechts, who is based in South Korea, declined to comment on the statement, as did the Dutch ministry of foreign affairs.

The killing of Kim Jong-nam and subsequent police investigation in Malaysia has led to a dramatic diplomatic meltdown in which both states have expelled each other’s ambassadors and banned the citizens of the other country from leaving.

Malaysian police have named several North Koreans wanted for questioning by police and announced that two are hiding in the embassy. Pyongyang attempted to block the investigation and prevent an autopsy on Kim Jong-nam’s body.

Two women – one from Vietnam and another from Indonesia – are believed by Malaysian police to be the two assailants captured on CCTV cameras grabbing Kim Jong-nam’s face. Both were arrested and have been charged with murder.

They face the death sentence if convicted, but police reports suggest they did not mastermind the murder.

Malaysia is still waiting for DNA samples of the next of kin to officially verify the identity, but no family member has presented themselves.

AP and Reuters contributed to this report