The son of Kim Jong Un's half-brother Kim Jong Nam has been taken into protective custody by the CIA. The 25-year-old nephew of the North Korean dictator has been exiled from the county and now according to reports he is in hiding after surrendering to the US intelligence services.
North Korean dissident group Free Joseon called Free Joseon helped Kim Jong Un's nephew Kim Han Sol escape after his father was assassinated using a nerve agent in Malaysia in 2017. Adrian Hong, head of the group, said he had "never met a kid with so much money".
He described Han Sol described as carrying "wads of cash" and wearing "Gucci shoes". He also believed that the father of Han Sol, the oldest son of North Korea's previous ruler Kim Jong Il had "stashed away a lot of cash during his life".
Han-sol is said to live a life of extreme luxury and is often seen wearing designer clothes. The ruling elite in the country is known to have an extraordinary level of wealth, as the Kim family owns yachts, palaces, and many luxury cars.
The Escape Plan
As reported by the New Yorker, Han Sol was introduced to the dissident group in 2013 after it started exposing human rights abuses in North Korea, said, Hong. He called Hong after he realized that police who were guarding his house in Macau, had disappeared.
Kim's nephew said that he needed to 'get out of Macau as soon as possible' as he started fearing for his life. He then met with the members of Free Joseon in Taipei, Taiwan just two days after his father was assassinated in Kuala Lumpur airport.
As claimed, Han Sol boarded a plane to seek asylum in the Netherlands but he never arrived at his destination. It is alleged that two CIA agents attempted to intercept him in Taipei, after which he was taken under protective custody and remains hidden.
He was last seen in a 40-second video, released by the group in the weeks following the death of Kim's half-brother in which Han Sol said, "My name is Kim Han Sol, from North Korea, part of the Kim family. Here's my passport. My father has been killed a few days ago. I'm currently with my mother and my sister."
Hong assumes that Kim's nephew had claimed asylum in another country. But according to him, the group made a mistake losing Han Sol to the CIA.
The Assassination
His father Kim Jong-Nam died after being attacked with the VX nerve agent which was found on his face and in his eyes, blood, urine, as well as clothing. He was waiting for a flight to Macau on February 13, when two women ran up to him and sprayed an unidentified liquid on him. Based on the CCTV footage, Doan Thi Huong, from Vietnam, and Siti Aisyah, from Indonesia were arrested.
Those two women claimed that they had been recruited as part of a "TV prank". However, the Vietnamese woman pleaded guilty to "voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means" over the death of Kim's half -brother.
Last year, reports were published claiming that Kin Jong Nam was working with the CIA before his assassination, while US President Donald Trump said he would not have allowed the CIA to have recruited Kim's relatives as informants. "I saw the information about the CIA with respect to his brother, or half-brother, and I would tell him that would not happen under my auspice that's for sure. I wouldn't let that happen under my auspices," said Trump.
It is also claimed that the half-brother of Kim had $124,000 in cash in his bag at the time of his death. As per the Malaysian authorities, Jong Nam met with a US intelligence agent before he was assassinated.
