South Korean news agency Yonhap, picking up Japanese news reports, quoted Thae Yong Ho, previously minister at London’s North Korean embassy, as saying 22-year-old Han Sol could be a barrier to his uncle’s pursuit of power.
“Behind it all, there’s Kim Jong Un’s desire to solidify his legitimacy as the leader,” Yong Ho was quoted as saying at a meeting with Japanese correspondents in Seoul on Wednesday.
The former diplomat said Jong Nam had been “the biggest obstacle” to Jong Un’s push for long-term power in North Korea, which, he added, was “heavily influenced by Confucian culture”.
“Kim Jong Nam’s acceptance of foreign media interviews increased the possibility of his presence being known inside North Korea, burdening Kim Jong Un.”
Although Jong Nam was now dead, his son, Han Sol, could also be a problem for the North Korean leader, Yong Ho was quoted as saying.
The diplomat said Han Sol was “a being that cannot be tolerated from the perspective of Kim Jong Un”, according to the Yonhap report.
“It remains to be seen how possible his survival would be,” Yong Ho added.
Yong Ho’s words coincide with the release of a video showing a man who claims to be Han Sol. The 40-second clip was sent to Channel NewsAsia (CNA) by a group calling itself Cheollima Civil Defense.
After identifying himself as Han Sol, the man in the video says that he is currently with his mother and sister. He signs off by saying, “We hope this gets better soon.”
According to CNA, Do Hee Youn, an activist with the Citizens Coalition for Human Rights of Abductees and North Korean Refugees, confirmed that the man in the video was Han Sol.
A report by the Associated Press (AP) added that an official at South Korea’s National Intelligence Service had confirmed the man’s identity as Han Sol.
AP said a private voice analysis institute in Seoul had also compared the CNA video with an interview that Han Sol had given to Finnish television in 2012. The Transcription Analysis Laboratory concluded that there was a “high probability” that the two videos were of the same speaker.