The death of Kim Jong-un´s brother in Malaysia raises questions about North Korea´s instability. But the pressing issue is the country´s nuclear programme - and how Donald Trump might respond to itEven after so many years of florid threats, missile launches and nuclear tests, North Korea can still make the outside world sit up. The latest eye-popping claim, that agents from Pyongyang assassinated Kim Jong-un´s elder brother Kim Jong-nam with a chemical spray at a Malaysian airport, sounds fantastical - and, as with many lurid stories about North Korea, that may turn out to be the case. But there is at least evidence of his sudden death, and Kim Jong-un has turned on close relatives before, purging and executing his uncle Jang Song-taek in 2013. Five years ago a South Korean court also convicted a North Korean of plotting to murder an activist with a poisoned needle.Should the allegation prove accurate, members of the Kim family will not be the only anxious ones. First, it would raise the possibility that Kim Jong-un was trying to remove a possible alternative figurehead, either because of emerging internal divisions, or because of a deep sense of insecurity. Secondly, Kim Jong-nam is thought to have lived between Macau, Beijing and Singapore, suggesting that he enjoyed a degree of protection from China - which hints at the limits of China´s influence on its neighbour. Continue reading...
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