North Korean leader's eldest son Kim Jong-Nam thinks his youngest brother will succeed their father as the next leader of the communist state, according to a television interview aired yesterday.
Kim Jong-Il, 67, is thought to have suffered a stroke last August and since then there has been speculation that one of his three sons – Jong-Nam and his half-brothers Jong-Chul and Jong-Un – would succeed him.
Last week, South Korean media, quoting a lawmaker who had been briefed by country's main spy agency, reported that Kim Jong-Il had designated Jong-Un as his successor.
"The appointment of a successor is totally my father's decision," Kim Jong-Nam, 37, confirmed to Japan's NTV in an interview held in Macau.
Asked if his 26-year-old brother had been picked as the North's next leader, he said: "I think so. I hear this news by media."
Jong-Nam's comments came during the interview, conducted in English, on Saturday but broadcast by Seoul's YTN the following day.
But when asked about the Pyongyang's underground nuclear test last month, he said: "I think, this kind of question you have to ask to my father or to my brother now, not to me."
Jong-Un was born to Kim's third wife, Ko Yong-Hi, who reportedly died of breast cancer in 2004.
A Swiss-educated basketball fan, Jong-Un has been described as a "chip off the old block" by his father's former Japanese sushi chef.
According to reports, North Koreans are being taught new songs aimed at instilling loyalty to the next leader, addressing Jong-Un as "General Kim."
Jong-Nam, who was born to a different mother than Jong-Un's, apparently spoiled his leadership prospects after being deported from Japan in 2001 for trying to enter the country on a forged passport.