( CNN ) -- One of the most secretive countries in the world seems to be putting a succession plan into place : North Korean leader Kim Jong Il promoted his youngest son to general . Experts say that could be an indication that Kim Jong Un will succeed his father and his grandfather as leader of North Korea . The outside world knows very little about Kim -- not even his age , which is apparently 27 or 28 . But at least one person outside the reclusive communist state once considered Kim Jong Un his best friend . Or at least he thinks so . Joao Micaelo went to school in Switzerland with a boy he knew as Pak Un from 1998 to 2001 . A teacher put them together at the same desk when the new student arrived , and they hit it off . Then , one day Pak Un told Micaelo , `` I am the son of the leader of North Korea . '' Micaelo `` did n't believe him because ... it was a normal school , '' he told CNN Tuesday . `` Normally the children of people like this , they do n't go to a normal school . '' But having seen pictures of the apparent heir to Kim Jong Il , Micaelo thinks it 's his high school friend . He remembered what his friend had told him years before . `` Then I said , `` Okay , maybe it 's true what he said to me , ' `` said Micaelo , who now lives in Bern , Switzerland , near the school he attended . Local government officials in the town that 's home to the Liebefeld School confirmed a student named Pak Un attended at the same time as Micaelo . The school declined to speak to CNN . Micaelo remembers `` Pak Un '' being introduced as the son of the ambassador of North Korea . What is life like inside North Korea ? `` He was a normal guy like me , '' Micaelo said , interested in sports , movies and computers . `` He was competitive at sports . He did n't like to lose , like any of us . For him , basketball was everything , '' Micaelo said . `` He played basketball , he had basketball games on his Playstation . The whole world for him was just basketball all the time , '' he said . The North Korean , who spoke good enough German to be understood , was not outgoing , Micaelo said . `` He was very quiet and he did n't speak with anyone . Maybe it was because most of the people did not take the time to understand him , '' he said . `` And he was not that type of guy who goes to another and says , 'Hello , how are you ? ' He was always quiet . '' He did n't go out at night to parties or discos , but he and Micaelo sometimes talked about girls , his friend said . Micaelo went to his house many times , meeting people whom he thought were his friend 's parents . But they spoke English , not German , and because Micaelo did n't speak English well at the time , he did n't get to know them very well . But they struck him as `` a normal family , like my family . '' `` Pak Un '' did n't talk much about North Korea , Micaelo said . He has n't seen his friend in years , since the North Korean moved home to go to a private school . But he 'd like to see him again -- particularly if it did n't mean going to North Korea . Is there political change in the wind in North Korea ? `` I would like to speak with him to remember old times , you know , '' Micaelo said . `` Because you know for me , he was also an important friend . He was my best friend at the time . I would like to see him again . '' But , Micaelo said , he 's not sure if now is the right time . `` Just now I do n't know if it 's good to see him again . ... If he asked me to go visit him . I do n't know if I go or not , '' he said . Micaelo said he does n't know what to expect from Kim as a leader . To read more on North Korea , go to CNN 's special coverage . `` I can just say what I know : Un , when he was 16 , he was a good guy , '' Micaelo said . `` So , I do n't think he would do something bad . But I do n't know what he 's been like in the last nine years . `` I just knew him when he was 16 years old . He 's been in a special school for this for nine years , '' he said . `` Maybe he 's another person . ''
Joao Micaelo went to school with a student who told him his father led North Korea . Micaelo did n't believe him at the time but now thinks it 's true . The North Korean liked basketball as a teen , says Micaelo . He played in high school and college for three years before he was drafted into the army.