---
title: "Kim Jong Nam | Save North Korea"
description: Kim Jong-nam was the eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. From roughly 1994 to 2001, he was considered the heir apparent to his father.
url: "https://savenorthkorea.org/people/kim-jong-nam"
language: en
translations:
  en: https://savenorthkorea.org/people/kim-jong-nam
  ko: https://savenorthkorea.org/ko/people/kim-jong-nam
  ja: https://savenorthkorea.org/ja/people/kim-jong-nam
  zh-Hans: https://savenorthkorea.org/zh/people/kim-jong-nam
---

[People](https://savenorthkorea.org/people) · family · purged

# Kim Jong Nam 김정남 

dead Died aged 45 

Kim Jong-nam was the eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. From roughly 1994 to 2001, he was considered the heir apparent to his father. [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim%5FJong-nam)

Born

1971-05-10, Pyongyang

Died

2017-02-13, Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia (poisoning)

Height

Unknown 

Weight

Unknown 

Military rank

Colonel

Status as of

2017-02-13[source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim%5FJong-nam)

Also known as

Kim Chol, Kim Jong-nam

## Family [See in the family tree](https://savenorthkorea.org/kim-family-tree#kim-jong-nam) 

- father [Kim Jong Il](https://savenorthkorea.org/people/kim-jong-il) Father
- mother [Song Hye Rim](https://savenorthkorea.org/people/song-hye-rim) Mother, actress who died in Moscow
- half sibling [Kim Jong Un](https://savenorthkorea.org/people/kim-jong-un) Half-brother and architect of his assassination
- KJ half sibling [Kim Jong Chol](https://savenorthkorea.org/people/kim-jong-chol)
- KS half sibling [Kim Sol Song](https://savenorthkorea.org/people/kim-sol-song)
- half sibling [Kim Yo Jong](https://savenorthkorea.org/people/kim-yo-jong)
- KH child [Kim Han Sol](https://savenorthkorea.org/people/kim-han-sol) Son, in protective exile

Machine-readable: [/api/people/kim-jong-nam](https://savenorthkorea.org/api/people/kim-jong-nam) · [Wikidata Q317824](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q317824) · Photo: [Wikipedia (non-free file)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kim%5FJong-nam.jpg) (Fair use)