Kim Jong Un's brother: Regime will fall

TOKYO, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- The late Kim Jong Il's oldest son predicts his younger brother's rule in North Korea will be short-lived, a Japanese journalist says.

Yoji Gomi, a reporter for the Tokyo Shimbun, says his upcoming book is based on seven years of e-mail exchanges and interviews with Kim Jong Nam, The Guardian reported. Gomi said he met Kim three times and exchanged e-mails with him for years and that Kim agreed when he suggested turning the e-mail exchange into a book.

Kim Jong Nam is believed to have been born in 1971 to Song Hye Nim, a North Korean movie star who was Kim Jong Il's longtime mistress. He is not known to have met his younger brother, Kim Jong Un, the son of Kim Jong Il's official wife.

"The Kim Jong Un regime will not last long," Gomi quotes Kim Jong Nam as saying. "Without reforms, North Korea will collapse, and when such changes take place, the regime will collapse. I think we will see valuable time lost as the regime sits idle fretting over whether it should pursue reforms or stick to the present political structure."

Kim Jong Nam, who is believed to live in Beijing and Macao, described himself as being under the protection of the Chinese government and closely watched by it at the same time.