Sunday May 27, 2012

JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

N Korea's Kim Jong-Un secretly visited Japan as child

Politics Dec. 23, 2011 - 03:40PM JST ( 52 )

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

Order by Time Order by Popularity

52 Comments

1

southsakaiDec. 23, 2011 - 07:29AM JST

He likes Disneyland and funky haircuts.
2

oginomeDec. 23, 2011 - 07:51AM JST

So his mother is a Zainichi then.
1

some14someDec. 23, 2011 - 07:55AM JST

His picture resembles to Drifter's Takagi Boo (!)
-2

OkinawamikeDec. 23, 2011 - 08:04AM JST

His picture resembles ET. But it could be the profile.
2

LFRAgainDec. 23, 2011 - 08:09AM JST

Kim Jong-Il's death changes little. Jong-Un's going to be a puppet and mouthpiece for an entrenched and thoroughly paranoid military leadership. Everything will be business as usual, I suspect.
5

Michael J. MorrisDec. 23, 2011 - 08:35AM JST

Two questions, first, is this news relevant? Does this make Japan feel closer to the new leader? Second, if it was so easy for North Koreans to enter Japan, what does it say about their security apparatus? Ten North Korean adults accompanied them, and they were all able to enter and stay for ten days without being noticed?
3

Nicky WashidaDec. 23, 2011 - 09:18AM JST

Not an expert or anything but if two very Korean-looking boys with Korean names entered Japan on Brazilian passports accompanied by 10 adults - wouldnt that raise a bit of a flag at immigration??!
3

seesaw1Dec. 23, 2011 - 09:41AM JST

Jong-Nam was the product of the late leader’s earlier marriage to an actress.

LOL. wow, how more casual could English be.....
-6

Allison HonigDec. 23, 2011 - 09:59AM JST

Mabey this is his way of morning over his father without anyone knowing? We never know? Mabey he lost his childhood and wants it back? His father is a communist so he's probley beaton all the time. Oh and how the hell is he short anoght to pass as a ten year old?????
3

AylerDec. 23, 2011 - 10:05AM JST

Oh and how the hell is he short anoght to pass as a ten year old?????

Only reading the headlines can create some rather strange misconceptions
1

CrickyDec. 23, 2011 - 10:06AM JST

Japan’s public security authorities were alerted to their arrival as possible North Koreans, but they had already left the country by the time an official investigation began

Gotta be quicker than that, thankfully they were sightseeing not up to anti-social skullduggery.
4

realmindDec. 23, 2011 - 10:10AM JST

Here is the chance.. Welcome that boy again to Japan as a national guest and take him to Disney Land. Show him everything in Japan and make him as a good friend of Japan. You will solve all the problems with NK and save billions of defence spending...
0

WeaselDec. 23, 2011 - 10:24AM JST

So does this mean Japan threaten to bombard the airwaves with "It's a small world", rather than resorting to using F-35 jets against the North Koreans if they lob any more missiles across the sea?
1

YubaruDec. 23, 2011 - 10:46AM JST

So his mother is a Zainichi then.

That would only be true if she was living here.
1

LH10Dec. 23, 2011 - 10:55AM JST

"His father is a communist so he's probley beaten all the time. "bwahahahahaha good one! ^o^
0

FarmboyDec. 23, 2011 - 10:56AM JST

and even managed a trip to Tokyo Disneyland

I wonder which Disney character is his favorite...
-4

You-JunkinjapanDec. 23, 2011 - 11:02AM JST

Maybe Disney Tokyo was going to base a character off of him like they did in Team America.
-1

You-JunkinjapanDec. 23, 2011 - 11:04AM JST

Or maybe he's looking to marry Minnie Mouse as her profile closely resembles his.
-1

soldaveDec. 23, 2011 - 11:27AM JST

Quiet day for news?
1

techallDec. 23, 2011 - 11:31AM JST

What's with these guys and Disneyland? Eldest brother caught doing the same thing and it turns into a media circus and he loses his claim to the throne. Now it turns out the brother no.2 and the "Great Successor" did it too but didn't get caught. Give the powers that be in NK all free trips to Disneyland and invade while they are in Toon Town.
0

CrazyJoeDec. 23, 2011 - 11:34AM JST

China would prefer Jong-Nam as North Korea's leader. I do hope those Disneyland Passports weren't fake.
1

oginomeDec. 23, 2011 - 12:20PM JST

That would only be true if she was living here.

Yeah, she grew up in Osaka.
0

The Munya TimesDec. 23, 2011 - 12:31PM JST

Did his visiting the civilized and devolved societies enlighten him or made him hatred toward us?
2

Blair HerronDec. 23, 2011 - 12:33PM JST

Their little sister, Kim Yeo-jong, must have been jealous. Or maybe she went to Sanrio Puroland(^o^)/
1

JapanGalDec. 23, 2011 - 01:21PM JST

If they had acted faster, they could have abducted them, and made a trade for the abducted Japanese.
2

proxyDec. 23, 2011 - 01:48PM JST

Well, I hope they loved Japan enough not to throw missiles at it.
1

smithinjapanDec. 23, 2011 - 01:52PM JST

Nicky: He entered under the name Joseph Pak, which isn't all that Korean a name (not the first name, anyway) and the kid was foreign educated in part so he could have easily outfoxed the 'arbeit' immigration workers here. The flight probably didn't come directly from NK, and if it did all foreigners have to get in the same line-ups anyway, so if it landed along with other flights they could be suspicious at best, but probably still wouldn't ask. Regardless, it takes Japanese authorities about a week or so to decide whether or not to investigate something, so there's no way they could have got them at immigration.

More relevant, it's a bit silly to compare immigration measures in the early nineties to what they are today (not addressing you here, Nicky, but speaking in general), even in Japan. While the fingerprinting and photo taking system is flawed, as has been showed time and time again, it's a step up in terms of security. What's more, we don't know that they did anything harmful, so who cares that they visited the land where their mother was born?
-1

smithinjapanDec. 23, 2011 - 01:58PM JST

techall: "What's with these guys and Disneyland?"

Ask a Japanese person what their obsession with paying obscene amounts of money to visit the place for a day and they'll scratch their heads and stand unable to answer you. What's more, where does it say these kids wanted to visit Disneyland? The elder brother was caught and admitted he wanted to do so, yes, but it doesn't say anything of the like in regards to the others (might be true, given the youngest would have been seven or eight at the time). Maybe he just wanted to see mom's roots and eat some authentic sushi (you mention the latter and I bet Japanese would pat themselves on the back and say 'naruhodo'!).
1

m5c32Dec. 23, 2011 - 02:06PM JST

So one's a gambler who took junkets to HK and Macau, the other two fans of American kids' cartoon characters. Which one to anoint indeed.

On the other hand, maybe it'll be easier to trick them into getting out of the country by sending them one of those Nigerian emails telling them they've won an all-expenses-paid holiday junket to Disneyworld. Just have to pick tix up in person at The Hague, or is it Lyon?
4

Blair HerronDec. 23, 2011 - 02:21PM JST

Add to smithinjapan, there are many Japanese-Brazilians (3世、4世）coming in and out of Japan, Asian-looking with Brazilian passport. According to Daily Yomiuri, pseudonym was Joseph Pawag (Pawag=Pak? same pronunciation in Korean or Portuguese? not sure). They were using genuine Brazilian passports. I wonder how they got genuine Brazilian passport...
1

smithinjapanDec. 23, 2011 - 02:29PM JST

Blair: "I wonder how they got genuine Brazilian passport..."

Money.
-1

smithinjapanDec. 23, 2011 - 02:34PM JST

Blair: Thanks for mentioning the 'Pawag' name, and there's no way that's the same as 'Pak', no matter how the media tries to slice it. Korean phonetics wouldn't allow the single character '박' (could also be romanized as 'Bak' or even 'Bag', although that would create problems) to be read as a two-syllable name like 'Pawag'.
1

just-a-guyDec. 23, 2011 - 02:40PM JST

Japan’s public security authorities were alerted to their arrival as possible North Koreans, but they had already left the country by the time an official investigation began. Now you got a clue why Japan is the perfect place for spying!!
1

smithinjapanDec. 23, 2011 - 02:49PM JST

proxy: "Well, I hope they loved Japan enough not to throw missiles at it."

Agreed. Or even launch rockets supposedly with satellites. I wonder if Japan's own rocket launch with the spy satellite was very good timing or very poor timing.
1

oberstDec. 23, 2011 - 03:13PM JST

0 Good| Bad FarmboyDec. 23, 2011 - 10:56AM JST

and even managed a trip to Tokyo Disneyland

I wonder which Disney character is his favorite .......................................

I heard from CNN ( or some sort of foreign media ) he fancies Duffy Duck
2

j4p4nFTWDec. 23, 2011 - 03:16PM JST

@oginome

So his mother is a Zainichi then

No. "Zainichi" literally means "Currently in Japan." She was a zainichi, but once she left Japan that ceased to be an applicable term for her.
1

warnerbroDec. 23, 2011 - 03:23PM JST

"Japan’s public security authorities were alerted to their arrival as possible North Koreans, but they had already left the country by the time an official investigation began, the Yomiuri said."

So at what point where they alerted and who alerted them? I suspect that they were given advanced notice by South Korea which was monitoring any international movements of the "royal family." But my guess is that nobody in Japan wanted to make a decision on how to deal with such a sensitive issue. The bureaucrats are in charge here, remember, and bureaucrats get ahead by not making mistakes. No initiative goes unpunished, no matter how much the situation calls for it. We've seen the same behaviour regarding the SPEEDI data.
1

The Munya TimesDec. 23, 2011 - 05:19PM JST

David Guttenfelder of AP has a nice contribution to make us understand North Korea, it might be interesting.

http://photos.denverpost.com/mediacenter/2011/11/photos-north-korea-in-autumn/23651/#2

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/08/inside-north-korea/100119/

To my previous post, I meant "developed" countries, sorry my spell checker vent wild.
0

MaximumManDec. 23, 2011 - 05:23PM JST

Hey, what is the problem?? they came, they enjoyed, they spent heaps of cash....japan was financially better off....everybody happy...and he probably got his disney toys!!!
1

CHAMADEDec. 23, 2011 - 06:57PM JST

Invite jong un to Disneyland As a state guest. Japan wouldn't like the appeal of such an obviously American attraction but what harm could it do?
1

Justina_JapanDec. 23, 2011 - 08:59PM JST

Good job immigration!
1

Blair HerronDec. 23, 2011 - 09:02PM JST

@The Munya Times, thank you for the great links. Add to that,

http://www.northkoreanow.org/the-crisis/mass-starvations-in-north-korea/
0

Mirai HayashiDec. 23, 2011 - 09:48PM JST

I guess this disqualifies him as being the next dictator.
1

The Munya TimesDec. 23, 2011 - 11:17PM JST

@Blair Herron

Thanks for the link. That was terrible, the 1990s was big, I think that was when the wheat yield was poor and Russia cut the aid. I always thought one million died. Heart braking indeed.
0

moomoochooDec. 24, 2011 - 01:57AM JST

by the time an official investigation began, they had already left the country

Says it all really.
0

oginomeDec. 24, 2011 - 02:04AM JST

No. "Zainichi" literally means "Currently in Japan." She was a zainichi, but once she left Japan that ceased to be an applicable term for her.

Who cares, she's an idiot either way. Another one of those morons who closes their eyes to the truth and chooses to leave a prosperous, democratic country to 'live' in a hellish dictatorship,
2

YuriOtaniDec. 24, 2011 - 02:12AM JST

In a country of the starving he needs to go to a fat farm. He loves to eat and it shows. So he visited Japan and Disneyland in Tokyo. He has me beat felt no desire to visit the theme park.
1

You-JunkinjapanDec. 24, 2011 - 02:50AM JST

I think now they shouldn't call him the "Great Successor" and just call him the "Great Sissy".
-1

realmindDec. 24, 2011 - 10:26AM JST

Finally one place where NK will not aim with their missiles. Tokyo Disney Land. Why not japan gave a present to him, make a small Disney Land in NK for him and for his children... It will be a good diplomacy...
0

Blair HerronDec. 24, 2011 - 02:01PM JST

They built an amusement park in Pyongyoung after they visited TDL.

http://www.cnngo.com/ja/explorations/play/happiest-place-north-korea-217780
0

just-a-guyDec. 24, 2011 - 02:37PM JST

I think he miss the' Ropponggi' district very much!
0

kurisupisuDec. 25, 2011 - 06:53AM JST

With the fingerprinting and photo taking in effect at Japan's international airports we should expect more of these revelations?