Most teenagers go through a rebellious phase, but it’s a little different when you’re the nephew of a North Korean dictator.
17-year-old Kim Han Sol graduated from a world peace school in Bosnia on Monday, demonstrating the lengths he was willing to go to distance himself from the oppressive regime of his uncle Kim Jong Un.
United World Colleges is an international organization comprised of 12 different schools and colleges that instills important ideals such as world peace in its students who generally hail from oppressive countries.
When Han Sol enrolled in the Bosnian branch of United World Colleges in 2011, he became the first North Korean to attend the school.
Han Sol’s father, Kim Jong Nam, is the eldest son of former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Although Jong Nam was next in line to succeed his father, he fell from grace after he attempted to use a fake passport to sneak into Disneyland. Jong Nam has frequently railed against the North Korean state of affairs, criticizing everything from the unstable economy to his brother Kim Jong Un’s swift rise to power.
“I question how a young heir with two years [of training as a successor] would be able to inherit … absolute power,” Jong Nam wrote in his book My Father Kim Jong Il and Me about his brother. “It is likely that the existing power elites will succeed my father by keeping the young successor as a symbol.”
Han Sol appears to have inherited his father’s propensity to dissent. Last year, he participated in a television interview in Finland where he expressed his hopes to unify the Koreas.
“I have always dreamed one day I will go back and make things better – make it easier for all the people there,” Han Sol said. “I also dream of reunification because it’s really sad that I can’t go to the other side [South Korea] and see my friends there.”