▲ Kim Pyong Il and his son and daughter in Narew, Poland

Kim Pyong Il, Kim Jong Il’s half brother and the North Korean ambassador to Poland, stated that “The Kim Jong Il system will last for the foreseeable future.”

RFA, quoting a Polish expert on Korea on the 20th, released that “Kim Pyong Il said that Kim Jong Il may lead North Korea for a longer term than others expect, even though North Korea has faced some economic difficulties. Such difficulties will be resolved soon.”

The expert released that “The North Korea embassy in Poland has not been able to hold Kim Jong Il’s birthday party in the embassy since 2006 due to financial problems. Despite this, they have been holding events, ceremonies and parties in pro-North Korean organizations or North Korean branch companies with pro-North Korean figures in Poland.”

He said that “Kim Pyong Il ordinarily speaks English but he is really good at German and Russian, too. However, he doesn’t talk too much about North Korea’s system. He is well-known in Polish diplomacy circles as a careful ambassador, keeping company with just the Chinese ambassador and other ambassadors who have relations with Pyongyang.”

He relayed that “His eldest daughter, Eun Song, got married to a North Korean general a few months ago. Kim Pyong Il had some difficulties and worries due to his daughter’s wedding.” He added, “It was not confirmed whether Kim Pyong Il visited Pyongyang for the wedding or not.”

In 1974, when Kim Jong Il was known to be the successor of Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il classified his half-siblings as “side branches (Gyeotgaji),” who could be treated as outsiders and were not allowed in the center of political circles. Therefore, Kim Pyong Il was sent abroad and has been away from Pyongyang as an ambassador since 1979. Since 1989, he served as ambassador to Hungary, Bulgaria, Finland and finally, from 1998 to the present, Poland. He and his wife, Kim Soon Geum, have a daughter and a son.

Among Kim Jong Il’s siblings, there is his blood sister, Kim Kyung Hee (the wife of Jang Sung Taek), and two half-siblings: Kim Yong Il (who died in 2000) and Kim Kyung Jin, who is the wife of the ambassador in Austria, Kim Kwang Seop. Kyung Jin and Young Il left North Korea for Czechoslovakia and East Germany, respectively, in 1979, when Kim Pyong Il left for Yugoslavia.