Kim Jong-nam was the eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. From roughly 1994 to 2001, he was considered the heir apparent to his father. He was thought to have fallen out of favour after embarrassing the regime in 2001 with a failed attempt to visit Tokyo Disneyland with a false passport, although Kim himself said his loss of favour had been due to advocating reform.

Kim Jong-nam was exiled from North Korea c. 2003, becoming an occasional critic of his family's regime. His younger paternal half-brother, Kim Jong Un, was named heir apparent in September 2010. Kim Jong-nam was assassinated in Malaysia on 13 February 2017 with the nerve agent VX.

The Wall Street Journal on 10 June 2019 reported that former US officials stated that Kim Jong-nam had been a CIA source.