North Korean Leaders Used Brazilian Passports to Apply for Western Visas

North Korean Leaders Used Brazilian Passports to Apply for Western Visas
A scan obtained by Reuters shows an authentic Brazilian passport issued to North Korea's late leader Kim Jong-il (Handout via Reuters) alongside more recognized portrait of Kim Jong-il (Joseph Ferris III [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)
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LONDON—North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his late father Kim Jong Il used fraudulently obtained Brazilian passports to apply for visas to visit Western countries in the 1990s, five senior Western European security sources told Reuters.

While North Korea’s ruling family is known to have used travel documents obtained under false pretences, there are few specific examples. The photocopies of the Brazilian passports seen by Reuters have not been published before.