Kim Jong-Un takes father's title of Dear Leader Sources claim that Ri, who had returned to Pyongyang in 2010 and was tasked with attracting foreign investment, was executed after disagreeing with Kim Jong-un about what to do with the funds in overseas accounts. There are additional reports that other senior officials with links to Jang have fled the country, including suggestions that one financial expert has defected with documents detailing North Korea's nuclear programme. The purge of Jang has also reportedly forced Kim's older half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, into hiding out of fear that the North Korean leader might use the opportunity to do away with another potential threat to his rule. Kim Jong-nam was widely considered to be the heir-apparent to Kim Jong-il, until he was taken into custody in 2001 in Tokyo with a woman and a young girl travelling on a forged Dominican Republic passport. He told authorities that he had been planning to visit Disneyland. That escapade ruined Kim Jong-nam's prospects and he has since lived in Macau, Singapore and Beijing. There are suggestions that he is being protected by the Chinese government in case a coup or another crisis creates a power vacuum in Pyongyang. Kim Jong-nam has been critical of his half-brother's dynastic succession in North Korea but is likely to accept the post, with Beijing's assistance, should the occasion arise in the future. The uncertainty in North Korea is causing renewed concerns about broader instability in the region, with Itsunori Onodera, the Japanese defence minister, saying in a speech in Tokyo on Thursday that events in Pyongyang are reminiscent of China's Cultural Revolution. "North Korea might become a more radical place in the future," Onodera said. That is my concern.