Kim Jong Nam, the eldest son of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and half-brother of current leader Kim Jong Un, who was assassinated in 2017, was a CIA informant who met with agency personnel on several occasions before his death, reports The Wall Street Journal.
“There was a nexus” between Kim and the CIA, the source told the paper.
Kim, who had not lived in North Korea for several years before his death but could have been seen as a threat to Kim Jong Un's rule, was also likely in contact with intelligence services from other countries, including China, according to the Journal. He was the eldest son in the current generation of North Korea's ruling.
U.S. officials told the newspaper that it was highly unlikely that Kim knew any top secrets or details about the inner workings within the North Korean regime.
Kim Jong Nam was killed after two women applied the deadly nerve agent VX to his face at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. He reportedly met with an American intelligence agent in the days before he was killed.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.