Korean leader's niece dies
2006-09-15 20:06
Seoul - A niece of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il killed herself in Paris, probably because she did not want to return to her home in the reclusive state, Yonhap news agency reported on Friday.
Jang Keum-song, 29, died in Paris - where she was studying - because of what appeared to be an overdose of sleeping pills taken after drinking alcohol, Yonhap cited a source in Seoul with access to intelligence on North Korea as saying.
It said Jang's body, which was found by her bodyguard, was subsequently sent back to Pyongyang.
Daily NK, a South Korean internet news service run by conservative journalists and defectors from the North, quoted a source in Europe as saying Jang apparently committed suicide.
Authorities in France and an official at the North Korean representation in Paris could not immediately confirm the reports.
Kim Jong-il has sent his three known sons overseas for studies and members of North Korea's elite are rewarded by being stationed abroad.