TOKYO - NORTH Korean leader Kim Jong Il's eldest son in a television interview broadcast on Tuesday said he believed reports that his youngest brother will be the communist country's next ruler.

'I hear the news by media. I think it's true,' Kim Jong Nam told Japanese broadcaster TV Asahi in an undated interview in Macau about the reported choice of his 26-year-old brother Kim Jong Un as the successor.

Speaking in English, he added that it 'is my father's decision, so once he decides we have to support (it).'

Jong Nam made similar comments to Japanese broadcaster NTV last week. Speaking to TV Asahi, he added: 'My father loves very much my brother as his son. I hope he can do his best for North Korean people for their happiness and better life.'

Kim Jong Il is thought to have suffered a stroke last August. Since then there has been speculation that one of his three sons - Jong Nam or one of his half-brothers, Jong Chul and Jong Un - would succeed the 67-year-old.

The succession rumours come amid high tensions after North Korea carried out its second nuclear test on May 25, followed by a series of short-range missile tests, and renounced the 1953 truce that ended fighting in the Korean War.

South Korean media, quoting a lawmaker briefed by the country's main spy agency, have reported that Kim Jong Il had designated Jong-Un as his successor.

Jong Nam, who was born to a different mother than Jong Un's, apparently spoiled his leadership prospects after being deported from Japan in 2001 for trying to enter the country on a forged passport.

Asked whether he would want to succeed his father, Jong Nam laughed and said: 'Sorry, I'm not interested in politics.' He denied reports that government officials close to him were being purged as 'totally fake information.'

Asked about his brother, the chubby, casually dressed Jong Nam told TV Asahi: 'I cannot tell what kind of person is my brother. Just I can say it's my brother. My father loves very much my brother as his son.' -- AFP