’Kim Jong-il’s eldest son secretly pays last respects’

The eldest son of North Korea's late leader Kim Jong-il has visited Pyongyang to pay his last respects, the Japanese Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported Sunday.

Kim Jong-nam, 40, flew left Macau where he mainly lives for Pyongyang on Dec. 17 after learning about his father's death that day, the report said.

He used a passport under the false identify of Kim Chol and avoided a flight via Beijing which might have given more exposure to his return home, the daily said. He left after "a few days" and was now in Macau, the report said.

Kim Jong-un, the new North Korean leader and youngest son of Kim Jong-il, was presumed to have accompanied his older brother to see their father's body, Yomiuri said.

Quoting a source connected to North Korea, the newspaper said the eldest son probably refrained from attending the Dec. 28 funeral because he did not want to give rise to possible arguments over "why the third should become the successor,"

The source added that Jong-nam "pulled out of the succession race several years ago by himself, saying he had no interest in politics," according to Yomiuri.

Jong-nam's absence from the state funeral has fuelled speculation about a possible power struggle with his half-brother Jong-un, who has taken over North Korea's top posts.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency earlier reported that Jong-nam had been "placed under Chinese protection." Jong-nam has described as a "farce" South Korean media reports in 2009 that people around Jong-un had tried to assassinate him in Macau, the source told the daily.