Saturday, October 14, 2006
Kim may Trade Cognac for Nuclear Weapons
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's decision to test a nuclear weapon may mean no more French wines and spirits for the Dear Leader or jet skis for his beloved sons.
The United Nations is moving closer to imposing sanctions on North Korea for its announced nuclear test Monday that include steps to hit the Stalinist state's nuclear and missile programs as well as keeping luxury goods away from its leaders.
"In a country as impoverished as North Korea, luxury goods are a key currency that keep the elite happy and reward those who win the favor of its leaders," said a South Korean government official, who asked not to be identified.
No one enjoys luxury goods more than paramount leader Kim Jong-il, who boasts the country's finest wine cellar with space for 10,000 bottles.
Kim has a penchant for fine food such as lobster, caviar and the most expensive cuts of sushi that he has flown in to him from Japan, according to Kim's former chef.
Kenji Fujimoto, a pseudonym, who worked as Kim's personal sushi chef in the late 1980s and 1990s at a time when more than 1 million North Koreans perished in a famine, said in a book Kim would go to extremes to satisfy his appetite.
Kim would have aides purchase caviar for him in Iran and even sent one envoy to Beijing to bring back McDonald's hamburgers, he said.
He would give gifts such as lingerie, a bidet, foreign currency and a down blanket to winners of gun-shooting matches or gambling games, Fujimoto said.
The United Nations is moving closer to imposing sanctions on North Korea for its announced nuclear test Monday that include steps to hit the Stalinist state's nuclear and missile programs as well as keeping luxury goods away from its leaders.
"In a country as impoverished as North Korea, luxury goods are a key currency that keep the elite happy and reward those who win the favor of its leaders," said a South Korean government official, who asked not to be identified.
No one enjoys luxury goods more than paramount leader Kim Jong-il, who boasts the country's finest wine cellar with space for 10,000 bottles.
Kim has a penchant for fine food such as lobster, caviar and the most expensive cuts of sushi that he has flown in to him from Japan, according to Kim's former chef.
Kenji Fujimoto, a pseudonym, who worked as Kim's personal sushi chef in the late 1980s and 1990s at a time when more than 1 million North Koreans perished in a famine, said in a book Kim would go to extremes to satisfy his appetite.
Kim would have aides purchase caviar for him in Iran and even sent one envoy to Beijing to bring back McDonald's hamburgers, he said.
He would give gifts such as lingerie, a bidet, foreign currency and a down blanket to winners of gun-shooting matches or gambling games, Fujimoto said.
# posted by DVDMASTER4 @ 12:05 PM 
