Won Sei Hoon, the director of the NIS, South Korea’s state intelligence agency, has dismissed claims carried in the domestic South Korean media that Kim Jong Nam, the first son of Kim Jong Il, has sought asylum in South Korea, or that the NIS had any involvement in the story.
Asked in the context of the asylum request being planned in order to affect the outcome of next month’s presidential election, Won told the National Assembly Intelligence Committee this morning, “The NIS has absolutely not participated in that, and would not organize such a thing to intervene in a presidential election.”
“Kim Jong Nam is not in Seoul,” he added. “There is no truth in it.”
On October 31st, a diplomatic source was cited in the domestic South Korean media as saying that Kim Jong Nam contacted South Korean intelligence to seek asylum and was then in a safe location. However, at the time the NIS said the report had stemmed from a wild claim made on a Japanese social networking service.
However, Won did confirm that Kim Jong Nam is not currently residing in Macao.
