Kim Jong-nam  was the eldest son of Kim Jong-il, former leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. From roughly 1994 to 2001, he was widely considered to be the heir apparent to his father and the next leader of North Korea.

 Following a much-publicized botched attempt to secretly enter Japan using a fake passport and visit Tokyo Disneyland in May 2001, he was thought to have fallen out of favor with his father.

 Kim Jong-nam's younger paternal half-brother Kim Jong-un was named heir apparent in September 2010.

 In exile, Jong-nam has become known as an occasional critic of his family's regime and an advocate for reform.

Kim was assassinated with poisoned needles at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia. The Malaysian authorities claimed that the perpetrators were two North Korean female agents.