Kim Han Sol Heading for Bosnian College

Kim Jong Il’s grandson appears to have enrolled in an international college in Bosnia & Herzegovina.

Kim Han Sol, the 16-year old first son of Kim Jong Nam, appears on the 2013 class list at The United World Colleges (UWC) branch in Mostar. UWC is a network of 13 colleges around the world, with branches in places as diverse as India, Norway and Swaziland.

The news was reportedly initially revealed to the local press by parents of other students at the school, although Kim’s name appears on a list published on the school website as well. He is the only student from North Korea on the list.

School officials have refused to comment on the reports, but a second report carried by Bosnian daily Dnevni Avaz claims that Kim has applied for a student visa at the Bosnia & Herzegovina Embassy in Beijing, but that he has yet to arrive in the country.

A spokesperson for the Bosnian authorities also apparently confirmed the visa application, saying that both visa and college enrollment applications are “normal procedures”.

Bosnia & Herzegovina belonged to the former Yugoslavia before the federation was dissolved in 1992, plunging the region into a brutal civil war. The city of Mostar is perhaps best known for the deliberate destruction of an iconic 420-year old bridge across the Neretva River connecting the two halves of the city on November 9th, 1993.

However, before the civil war, thanks in large part to their efforts to maintain independence within the socialist bloc, Kim Il Sung had close ties with Marshal Josip Broz Tito, who ruled Yugoslavia until his death in 1980. Tito received a hero’s welcome in North Korea on an official visit in 1977.