BURGLARS broke into the Macau home of the reclusive son of North Korea's leader after he made his first media appearance in years en route to Pyongyang, a South Korean newspaper reported on today. The Chosun Ilbo cited intelligence sources in Seoul as saying someone in the southern Chinese city had robbed the posh home of Kim Jong-nam, oldest known son of leader Kim Jong-il. There was no word yet on what might have been taken, it said."We've heard of no such reports before," a Macau Government information officer said. A police spokeswoman said one home in the exclusive part of Macau where Kim is reported to live was broken into on February 13. She declined to name the home's owner.
Caught on camera in Beijing last month, Kim Jong-nam, 35, said he was returning to Pyongyang for his father's birthday on February 14. He had apparently fallen out of favour with Kim Jong-il in 2001 after getting deported from Japan for trying to enter the country on a fake passport to visit Tokyo Disneyland. He has been living mostly overseas since then, intelligence sources have told South Korean media.