Kim Pyong Il, a long-time North Korean ambassador and half-brother of the country’s late leader Kim Jong Il, returned home this summer under circumstances that remain unclear, sources told NK News this week.

Kim, the son of Kim Il Sung and his third wife Kim Song Ae, was once believed to be a possible future DPRK leader, but has spent the last few decades in de facto exile from the country.

Previously North Korea’s ambassador to Poland for 16 years, he has served as the country’s ambassador to the Czech Republic since 2015.

One source told NK News they had