SEOUL (Reuters) - The second son of isolated North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il was seen at a concert by guitarist Eric Clapton in Singapore, South Korean media said on Wednesday.
Kim Jong-chol, dressed in black pants and a T-shirt, was accompanied by around 20 men and women at the gig on Monday, Korea Broadcasting System (KBS) reported.
The Singapore gig was the second Clapton concert at which Jong-chol has been spotted.
He saw the bluesman play in Germany in 2006, and later he invited Clapton, via the North Korean embassy in Britain, to perform in Pyongyang, though Western popular music is normally banned in the North.
Jong-chol, 29, had been earmarked as a potential successor to Kim Jong-il. He was given low level positions in the ruling party and there were reports that the army supported his rise, but in 2009 his younger brother Jong-un, believed to be his father's favourite, emerged as the front runner.
Last year the succession was formalised with Jong-un's promotion to senior party and military posts.
Jong-un, known only to be in his mid to late twenties, was educated in Switzerland.
Kim Jong-il, who is believed to have suffered a stroke in 2008, is known to have four children, including three sons who apparently have a penchant for American basketball and rock music.
Kim's eldest son Jong-nam is thought to have fallen out of his father's favour, especially after he was deported from Japan on suspicion of trying to enter the country with forged travel documents to go to Tokyo Disneyland.
Jong-nam is now known to live in China and Macau.
The South Korean broadcaster KBS said Jong-chol was seen taking photos in front of the stage in Singapore and talking with the women who accompanied him, adding that his entourage blocked cameras.
North Korea is under a raft of international sanctions, imposed by the U.N. Security Council for nuclear and missile tests over the past six years, but elites are still widely permitted to travel abroad.
Some states, including South Korea and the United States, have slapped further sanctions on the North after accusing it of torpedoing a South Korean warship last year. Pyongyang denies it was to blame.
(Reporting by Jeremy Laurence; Editing by Daniel Magnowski)
