North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's grandson Han-sol on Thursday started school at the United World College in Mostar, southern Bosnia, over a month and a half after it reopened for the new semester.| Bosnia is certainly a place I think when I think 'rigorous academics'... |
The Chosun Ilbo attempted to get a glimpse of the dictator's grandson by peeling into classrooms on Thursday morning but was asked to leave. Soon afterward, school spokeswoman Meri Musa confirmed that Han-sol had arrived at the school. "I'm well aware of the publicity surrounding the first North Korean student at the UWC," she said. "He's doing well on his first day here."
Asked whether the Chsoun Ilbo could meet him, she declined. "Please understand that the school is supposed to protect its students," she said. But she added the school will give a press conference Friday.
"We'll bring Kim Han-sol in for the press conference if he wants, but if he doesn't, we can't force him," she added.
"He'll get the same treatment as other students and live in a dorm," Musa said. "The school's policy is to help him as much as possible so that he can lead a normal life."
Meanwhile, Keith Clark, the executive director of UWC International in London, said in a press interview the school wants to teach the boy about diversity, which is one of its foremost principles.
"Now, Han-sol, in your country when you have a disagreement with someone who's different from you, how do you deal with someone like that?"
"I call up gramps and have them killed."
Han-sol arrived at Sarajevo International Airport on Wednesday. He "had a valid visa and passport," thus satisfying all conditions to enter Bosnia, border police spokeswoman Sanela Dujkovic said.
A boy presumed to be Kim Han-sol was spotted wearing black-rimmed glasses and a black jacket, Japan's Fuji TV reported.
The boy is expected to stay in the school dorm for the next two years. Mostar, the former capital of Herzegovina, was the scene of violent confrontation among Croats, Serbs and Muslims from 1992 to 1995.