Son of Kim Jong-nam appears in video

Kim Han-sol appears in a video posted by a group that says it rescued his family with the help of four governments.

The son of Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half brother of North Korea’s ruler who was killed in Malaysia three weeks ago, has appeared in an online video posted by a group that says it rescued his family with the assistance of four governments.

Speaking English, he identifies himself as Kim Han-sol, shows his redacted passport, and says he is speaking a few days after the February 13 killing and is safely with his mother and sister. The YouTube video is dated March 7.

“The individual who appears on the video clip is indeed Kim Han-sol,” said a spokesman for South Korea’s main spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, which had initially declined to comment. He declined to give further details, including the family’s whereabouts.

South Koreans watch video footage of the man who claims he is Kim Han-sol. Picture: AFP

The video links to a website that says it belongs to Cheollima Civil Defense, which says in a statement on the site that in response to an emergency request from the family, it had taken them to an unnamed safe location. The group says it specialises in “urgent needs for protection.”

Kim Jong-nam was living in Macau, China, before his death, and his family is believed to have been living there with him, though their exact whereabouts when he died are unknown. Malaysian and South Korean authorities believe his killing was orchestrated by North Korea.

The statement thanks the governments of the Netherlands, China, the US and an unnamed fourth country, singling out the Dutch ambassador in Seoul, AJA Embrechts, “for his timely and strong response to our sudden request for assistance”.

A representative of Mr Embrechts didn’t respond to requests for comment. Ruth Emmerink, the embassy’s deputy head of mission, declined to comment, as did the US Embassy.

South Korea’s unification ministry, which handles issues regarding North Korea, said it has no knowledge of Cheollima. China’s embassy in Seoul couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Kim Jong-nam died shortly after being assaulted by two women at Kuala Lumpur’s main airport, and an autopsy found the cause of death was the toxic nerve agent VX. Malaysian police say they are still waiting for members of his family to identify and claim the body and haven’t received any DNA samples to help in his identification. Mr Kim was carrying a passport in the name Kim Chol.

Malaysia’s police chief, Khalid Abu Bakar, said by text message Wednesday that police had not managed to contact Mr Kim’s surviving family members and couldn’t comment on the accuracy of the video.

In the video, the younger Mr Kim says he and his family are very grateful and he hopes their situation gets better soon. A mention of whomever he is grateful to is muted out and his mouth is blacked out while he says it.

Cheollima said its statement is the only one it will make on the matter and that the location of the family won’t be revealed. It didn’t respond to emailed questions.

A number of groups work at extracting North Korean defectors. South Koreans, including Christian pastors, rights activists and former defectors have secretly engaged in such work, though several told The Wall Street Journal they don’t know of a group called Cheollima.

The name appears to derive from a Korean word for a mythical winged horse.

Additional reporting: Alastair Gale and Kwanwoo Jun