N Korea Kim's niece kills herself in Paris -Yonhap

SEOUL, Sep 15 (Reuters) A niece of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il killed herself in Paris, probably because she did not want to return to her home in the reclusive state, Yonhap news agency reported today.

Jang Keum-song, 29, died last nonth in Paris -- where she was studying -- because of what appeared to be an overdose of sleeping pills taken after drinking alcohol, Yonhap cited a source in Seoul with access to intelligence on North Korea as saying.

It said Jang's body, which was found by her bodyguard, was subsequently sent back to Pyongyang.

Daily NK (www.dailynk.com), a South Korean Internet news service run by conservative journalists and defectors from the North, quoted a source in Europe as saying Jang apparently committed suicide.

Authorities in France and an official at the North Korean representation in Paris could not immediately confirm the reports.

Kim Jong-il has sent his three known sons overseas for studies and members of North Korea's elite are rewarded by being stationed abroad.

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