This December 23, 2011 screen capture of the North Korean TV footage shows military cadets crying at the Kim-Il Sung square for the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il at Pyongyang. (AFP Photo/Ho/ North Korean TV)

The eldest son of deceased North Korean strongman Kim Jong Il said the regime will soon collapse under the rule of his half-brother, “supreme leader” Kim Jong Un, according to media reports.

Kim Jong Nam gave interviews to a Tokyo-based writer Yoji Gomi, saying, “The Kim Jong Un regime will not last long,” according to quotes appearing in the Guardian newspaper, suggesting an ensuing power struggle. His interview appears in the new book “My Father, Kim Jong Il, and Me.”

“Without reforms, North Korea will collapse, and when such changes take place, the regime will collapse,” he said.

For the isolated communist country, “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,” Jong Nam added.

Jong Nam, who currently lives in China, fell out of favor with his father more than a decade ago when he was arrested in Japan with fake documents while attempting to visit Disneyland.

Gomi, in an interview with CNN, said Jong Nam fell out of favor not due to the Disneyland incident, but because he criticized his father’s military first policies.

“He wants North Korea to embrace economic reform and open its doors,” Gomi added.