International
No ban on Kim's love for luxury - By Francois Bougon
10/18/2006
- By Francois Bougon
Beijing, Oct. 18: A gourmet with a taste for the good life, North Korea's reclusive leader Kim Jong-Il will continue to enjoy his favourite French wines and foreign delicacies despite a UN embargo on luxury goods for Pyongyang, analysts said.
A thriving black market will likely ensure Mr Kim a steady supply of what he likes best, they said, with smugglers always ready to sneak over the border. Accounts by foreigners and North Korean defectors published over the past decade paint a luxurious lifestyle for the "Dear Leader" in stark contrast to the raging poverty gripping the nation.
According to a book by his former Japanese chef, a sushi specialist, Mr Kim takes great pleasure in tasting fish that are still wriggling. Others recall him dining on the freshest imported lobster with silver chopsticks. And to wash those delicacies down, Mr Kim has long been known to enjoy French cognac, in particular Hennessy VSOP.
In recent years however, he and others among North Korea's political elite have apparently switched to wine, much of it smuggled in via China and South Korea. "There is frequent trade originating from China and South Korea concerning wine. In particular expensive wines.
There are some routes well established by Chinese and South Korean dealers," said an Asian-based employee of a large French wine company, who wished to remain anonymous.
"As for the best wines, it is notorious that the North Korean leaders mainly get their supplies through China." The employee said a Chinese wholesaler recently wished to acquire nearly 500 cases but his company refused the order as they believed the wine was bound for North Korea.
Not everybody has qualms about supplying North Korea's Communist leaders with goods that the rest of the nation's impoverished population of 23 million cannot afford. According to experts, luxury goods were a form of reward for loyals to the Communist regime in 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union. (AFP)