NK leader’s grandson begins studying in Bosnia

MOSTAR, Bosnia (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's grandson appears to be enjoying his new life as he began studying in an international high school in Bosnia earlier this week.

Kim Han-sol has enrolled at the United World College's branch in the southern Bosnian town of Mostar after spending years in the Chinese territory of Macao.

He is the son of Kim Jong-il's eldest son, Kim Jong-nam, who makes China his home outside North Korea and reportedly has a luxury house in Macao. Jong-nam has reportedly fallen out of favor with the North Korean leader for his wayward lifestyle.

Han-sol told school officials that he had a good impression of Bosnia, according to the school principal. The official said the school will treat the young North Korean like all other students.

Footage by FTV showed Han-sol wearing a black short sleeve T-shirt, black horn-rimmed glasses and a necklace at his school's dormitory on Wednesday.

He told the Bosnian public television station that he is happy and he likes the school.

On Thursday, Han-sol's conversation with his three or four new classmates could be heard outside his dormitory room with the frequent sound of laughter.

The classmates later closed the windows and turned off the lights after an Yonhap News Agency reporter tried to listen in on their conversation. A school security official also asked the reporter to leave the compound.

The younger generation of the reclusive North Korean leader has largely been educated in Europe, with North Korea's heir apparent son, Kim Jong-un, going to school in Switzerland.

Meanwhile, David Sutcliffe, the chairman of the school's founding board, issued a statement saying "the entry of a student from North Korea, furthermore from a very well-known family, has understandably generated surprise and comment, some of it critical."

He recalled this was not the first time the UWC had controversial students and that the "United World Colleges exist in order to cross new frontiers in international education."

"The opportunity of taking a first step in bringing North Korea into the international community, through youth, is one to be cherished," he added.

Mostar is 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of Sarajevo and the school, opened in 2006, has 124 students from 34 countries, including Iraq, Israel and the Palestinian territories.

It is part of the United World College's network of schools established by a British foundation in 1962 with the aim of bringing together young people "whose experience was of the political conflict of the Cold War era," the statement said.

The school in Bosnia is located at the former front line in downtown Mostar that divides the town in two since a war broke out between Muslim Bosnians and the Catholic Croats in 1992-95. The opening of the school contributed to reconciliation and peace in the city.