Security authorities began an investigation into a recent report by a Japanese weekly that Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, might have gambled on a visit to South Korea's Cheju Island a few years ago.
The Cheju District Police Agency is questioning employees at a hotel to find out whether they had seen a man who looked like Kim.
Security authorities have reportedly instructed its officials stationed in Japan to gather information on the weekly's report.
In its June 28 issue, the Shukanshincho said that Kim Jong-namlikes to gamble and visited a hotel casino on Cheju via Japan several years ago.
The weekly said...Kim could have entered Cheju without detection because the international tourist island does not require visas.
The publication cited a Japanese man who recently returned from Pyongyang as saying, "Kim Jong-nam showed me a photograph of himself in front of botanical gardens at a Cheju Hotel casino."