Where does a despot’s son dine?
This 2007 profile looks at Kim Jong-nam’s life as a dilettante in Macau, where his drinking and dining cronies don’t know he’s a North Korean despot’s son
With his Swiss education and language skills, Kim Jong-nam has moved about cosmopolitan Macau easily. He counts Portuguese, Chinese and Australians among his friends - and some of his late-night dining and drinking cronies don’t even know he is the eldest son and potential political heir of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
Mr Kim has been seen around the restaurants of Macau’s Outer Harbour reclamation, apparently relaxed and genial. He often pops across to Taipa island for a late-night tot of whisky or cognac.
‘He’s not short of funds but he doesn’t always live the high life. He has tastes that can be very down-to-earth,’ said one Macau source familiar with his movements. ‘Very late at night he may stop with friends at a streetside establishment that is far from luxurious.
‘He is low-profile, but that doesn’t seem to stop him enjoying life. The guy seems to like Macau. He says he is happier there than on the mainland.’
Mr Kim travels by taxi and does not use bodyguards, but is often accompanied by friends. He has had little to do with Macau’s small North Korean community, which shifted to Zhuhai after the US-led financial crackdown on North Korea in 2005, when accounts in Macau’s Banco Delta Asia were frozen.
Mr Kim has spent long stretches over the last three years living at the Mandarin Oriental hotel near Macau’s ferry terminal, checking in under a false name. During that time he has made trips to Bangkok, Beijing and Europe. His family stay in a large villa on Coloane island, which, sources say, Mr Kim finds too quiet.