My Three Sons

Sorry. Those of you with money riding on son number one, Kim Jong-nam, or son number three, Kim Jong-un, tear up your tickets, cause it’s a final:

Kim Jong-Chol, son number two, at the wire.

[Fun fact: “He is such an enthusiastic fan of U.S. NBA professional basketball that his doting father built basketball courts at his villas throughout North Korea.� ]

Really, son number one’s chances took a dive back in 2001 with that Disneyland incident:

The eldest, Jong-nam, 34, was deported from Japan in 2001 on suspicion of trying to enter the country using a forged Dominican Republic passport.

He was sent to China from Japan and was quoted as saying at the time that he was trying to visit Tokyo Disneyland.

He reportedly fell out of favor over the incident and has since been the target of two assassination attempts, South Korean media reported citing intelligence sources.

Once, on a Friday in high school, I ditched class and hit Cedar Point with some friends. My Dad found out and got pretty pissed. No assassination attempts, but still, you could tell he was pretty steamed.

At the time, I thought, “What a cool dad, he’s not going to assassinate me.�

Now, looking back on it, I realize it’s just that sort of ‘spare the rod’ parenting that explains why were falling so far behind behind the North Koreans on standardized tests.

posted by Dr. Reo Symes at 08:07 PM

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