Japanese chef of late NK leader set to return to Pyongyang

A Japanese chef who worked for North Korea’s late leader Kim Jong Il left for Pyongyang Friday at the invitation of the Stalinist country`s new leader Kim Jong Un.

Kenji Fujimoto, 66, formed a friendship with Kim Jong Un while working for the Kim family from 1989 to 2001. His first trip to Pyongyang in 11 years, the chef is believed to have gone there for a reunion with his wife and two sons.

Fujimoto flew from Narita International Airport in Japan Friday afternoon to Beijing. He is expected to arrive in Pyongyang Saturday at the earliest via a flight of the North`s national carrier Air Koryo.

Japan’s Kyodo News Agency quoted the chef as saying before departure, “I couldn`t turn down the invitation because Marshal Kim Jong Un invited me in person.”

Two years after leaving the North, Fujimoto published “Kim Jong Il’s Chef,” a book on the private life of the late leader. Though many North Koreans were starving to death, the chef said, Kim Jong Il enjoyed yacht sailing and caviar dinners. Since the book’s release, Fujimoto has always worn sunglasses and a hood, indicating that he feels his life is threatened.

He also said he has suffered from a sense of guilt over leaving behind his North Korean wife and two sons.

Jeong Seong-jang, a senior researcher at the Sejong Institute of South Korea who once interviewed Fujimoto, said, “He said he couldn`t forget the voices of his sons and wanted to go back to the North to reunite with his family if the general (Kim Jong Il) guaranteed his safety.”

“Kim Jong Un apparently invited Fujimoto and guaranteed his safety because he was one who offered the most positive description of Kim Jong Un to the outside world.” In his book, Fujimoto positively depicted Kim Jong Un’s leadership, predicting that the latter would become the third hereditary leader of North Korea.

kyle@donga.com