Philippine Ambassador to China, North Korea & Mongolia suffers stroke

Ambassador Sonya Brady for China, Mongolia and North Korea

Philippine Ambassador to China,  North Korea & Mongolia Sonia Brady suffered a stroke in Beijing this week.

"Ambassador Brady suffered a stroke and is hospitalized where her condition is being monitored closely," Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario confirmed Brady's condition in a text message to VERA Files.

An official statement released by DFA Spokesman Raul Hernandez late (August 24, 2012) Friday evening said:

"Ambassador Sonia Brady was brought to the hospital last Wednesday after she passed out in her residence in Beijing. She is undergoing tests and waiting for the results. Her condition is stable but she is under observation. "

"She is better now than when she was brought to the hospital last Wednesday," Hernandez added in a later text advisory.

Brady, who turned 71 on Wednesday, the day she was brought to the hospital, had just recovered from a mild stroke when she was named ambassador to China last May at the height of the standoff between Philippine and China maritime vessels in Panatag shoal.

Aside from China, North Korea and Mongolia are also currently under Brady's jurisdiction.

She is on her second stint at ambassador to China, having served in the same position from 2006 to 2010. She was ambassador to Thailand and Myanmar before she was named envoy to China.

From 1976 to 1978, Brady served as third secretary and vice consul and was later second secretary and consul of the Philippine embassy in China.

Brady was plucked from retirement after President Benigno Aquino III's first choice, family friend Domingo Lee, was bypassed by the Commission on Appointments several times.

Brady breezed through the CA as the members recognized her experience in China and diplomacy and the urgency of the situation.   She waited only a month to be confirmed.

A career diplomat, Brady studied journalism at the University of Santo Tomas. She earned her Foreign Service degree at the University of the Philippines. She holds a master's degree in international relations from the University of Southern California in 1987.

Brady served as assistant secretary in the Department of Foreign Affairs Office of Policy and Coordination from 1999 to 2002.

(VERA Files is put out by veteran journalists taking a deeper look at current issues. Vera is Latin for "true.")

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NKorean leader's grandson arrives to study in Bosnia‎

KIM: A grandson of reclusive North Korean leader Jong IL Kim arrived in Bosnia on Wednesday 12^th October 2011 to study in an international school for the next two years, a police source said.

A border police spokeswoman said 16-year-old Han Sol Kim entered the country at Sarajevo airport Wednesday afternoon on a regular flight from Vienna."A North Korean national arrived at 2.20 pm (1220 GMT)," according to local border police spokeswoman Sanela Dujkovic.

Dujkovic said the "passenger had a valid visa and passport," thus satisfying all conditions to enter the country.

Bosnia-Herzegovina - Officials in Bosnia said North Korean leader Jong IL Kim's grandson has arrived in the country to enroll at a private high school made up of international students.

He will be the first student from North Korea to attend the United World College's branch in the southern city of Mostar, school spokeswoman Meri Musa said last week. In some nations, a college is equivalent to a high school.

Mostar is 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of Sarajevo and the school, opened in 2006, has 124 students from 34 countries, including Iraq, Israel and the Palestinian territories

Musa said that Han Sol Kim will be treated like all other students and will be living in a dormitory.

The United World Colleges (UWC) in the Bosnian town of Mostar said last month it had accepted Han Sol Kim as a student.

According to the school, the enrollment of the grandson of the leader of one of the most secluded countries in the world was the result of a special outreach program for North Korea the UWC network has.

Media reported that the 16-year-old's father is Jong Nam Kim, the North Korean leader's exiled eldest son. The couple is said to have lived in Macau since the father fell out of favor with Jung IL Kim 2 years ago.

Jong Nam Kim the father of Han Sol Kim is said to be weak as he tried to oppose his father's decision Jong Il Kim in ruling the communist state. Jong Nam preferred to rule the North Korea with democracy opposite to his father's want for a total authoritarian system.

Analysts said if Jong Nam will be the successor of Jong IL Kim then it could be the end of communist country as He wants to give more freedom to the North Korean people than controlling them.

Jong Nam Kim is understood to have once been the one to beat to succeed the North Korean leader. But the youngest son Jong Un Kim is now being groomed to take over one of the world's most isolated countries. 

The UWC is a network of school and colleges throughout the world, attended notably by pupils from war-affected areas, and aimed at promoting international and intercultural understanding.

The southern Bosnian town of Mostar was the scene of violent clashes between the country's Croats, Muslims and Serbs during its 1992-1995 war.

Sixteen years since the end of the war it still remains a symbol of inter-ethnic divisions in the Balkan country.

Many people are concern about the security of the young boy (Han Sol Kim) in Bosnia as several activists around the world hates the government of Jong IL Kim.

Many are worry that the innocent boy would be a victim of discrimination or abuse as his grandfather is known of his communist government.

Even though Han Sol Kim is a grandson of the communist leader in the North Korea, it doesn't mean that he has a reclusive attitude as even his father was exiled to Macau for opposing his father's system of government.  

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