Kim Jong-un: Brazilian passport seen for the first time
THE names are different but the faces are unmistakeable. Kim Jong-un and his late father used these passports to visit the West.
THESE are the never-before-seen photos which reveal Kim Jong-un and his late father used Brazilian passports to apply for visas to travel to the West.
The pictures, which appear on Brazilian passports, have not been published before now with Reuters obtaining exclusive photocopies of the travel documents.
And while their names may be different on the documents, there is no mistaking the true identity of the North Korean leaders.
Kim Jong-un’s passport was issued under the names of Josef Pwag who was supposedly born on February 1, 1983.
His later father Kim Jong-il’s was issued under the name of Ijong Tchoi with a birth date of April 4, 1940.
Five Western European security sources told Reuters that the fraudulently obtained Brazilian passports were used to apply for visas to visit Western nations in the 1990s.
“They used these Brazilian passports, which clearly show the photographs of Kim Jong-un and Kim Jong-il, to attempt to obtain visas from foreign embassies,” a senior Western security official said.
“This shows the desire for travel and points to the ruling family’s attempts to build a possible escape route.”
It is understood the passports may also have been used to travel to Brazil, Japan and Hong Kong.
A Brazilian source said that these passports were legitimate documents when sent out as blanks for consulates to issue.
The passports were issued on February 26, 1996 with both men supposedly born in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Brazil’s foreign ministry is investigating the issue.
However leading North Korea expert Dr Leonid Petrov questioned the authenticity of the passports and photos.
Dr Petrov, a visiting fellow at the Australian National University College of Asia and the Pacific said he thought these passports looked dodgy, particularly if they were used for visa applications in Western embassies.
“Can you imagine Kim Jong-il entering France or the UK unnoticed? Hiding in Poland or Romania would be hard too due the fact that they joined the EU in the 1990s,” he said.
Dr Petrov said Kim Jong-il had honorary citizenships of countries including Nigeria, Peru and Ecuador but never travelled anywhere beyond Russia, China and Indonesia.
He also said Kim Jong-un had his North Korean diplomatic passport, “which was pretty convenient at the time when he studied in Switzerland.”
However John Blaxland, Professor of International Security and Intelligence Studies and director of ANU’s Southeast Asia Institute said this was a fascinating insight into what has been known as a long-established practice of the Kim dynasty.
“Reports indicating the passports are genuine point to the reason why additional security measures have been introduced in recent years to increase the degree of difficulty of such important documents being used inappropriately,” Professor Blaxland said.
“Indeed we can expect even greater security measures being introduced into passports and passport checking mechanisms in light of repeated and increasingly sophisticated measures aimed at subverting the system.”
North Korea’s ruling family is known to have used travel documents obtained under false pretences.
Various members of the Kim family have also spent time overseas with many of the ruling regime educated in boarding schools outside North Korea.
Kim Jong-un spent part of his childhood in Bern, Switzerland studying at an international school under a pseudonym, Pak Un.
Registered as the child of a North Korean embassy worker, Pak Un attended the Steinhoelzli school from 1998 until late-2000.
However, Jong-un has not left North Korea since taking over the leadership in 2011.
By comparison, his father took several trips overseas as leader including to China and Russia.
Other Kim siblings including Jong-un’s half brother, the late Kim Jong-nam, and his sister Kim Yo-jong were also believed to have been educated overseas.
Jong-nam, who was assassinated at Kuala Lumpur airport in Malaysia on February 13, 2017, travelled on a fake passport in an attempt to enter Japan in 2001. Two woman have been charged with his murder.
He fell severely out of favour after attempting to visit the country on a fake passport, revealing he wanted to head to Disneyland in Tokyo.
The move was said to have brought enormous shame on the Kim family who saw it as a major embarrassment.
— with Reuters
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