I thought they had that lunch at a different club.
Nope, don’t think so.
Yes, that was my understanding. It’s possible that the friend let him keep the entire 15,000 yen per hour club fee. And I agree that the chef was not a nice guy, but it was a revealing story (including how Lil Kim got interested in American basketball).
All the meetings mentioned in the article are either at the karaoke club owned by the friend - “a sad place the size of a single-wide”, or at Don - “which is the Japanese equivalent of Sizzler. It seemed to cater to coupon clippers and chain-smokers.”
You’re right, but you’re misstating how it happened. He’s saying the chef asked to meet at an exclusive club and it turned out to be the shithole karaoke place his friend runs. Anyway the guy is a very interesting character himself- he comes off sounding like a tough outsider early on but reveals himself to be craven and addicted to closeness with powerful people.
I didn’t say it was the writer’s idea or he knew about it beforehand, but he must have realized instantly what the deal was before paying the grossly inflated fees “to the club.” I’m not really faulting him for not calling it off after flying all the way to Japan, and I actually think it was commendable that he didn’t just leave out the details of the shenanigans, which he easily could have done. I just thought it was noteworthy, and reinforced how much of a slimeball the subject of the interview was.
It does, yes.
It sounds like an interesting article. I’m curious why he hasn’t worked in 12 years though. The Kims have the means to hire or abduct the very best. Wouldn’t his skills be in high demand? Is the money as an professional interviewee that good?
I don’t know but Japan, from what I’ve seen, seems to have a fascination with ‘tough guys’ who make it in foreign countries in ‘tough’ situations. I know my ex was super excited that I lived near a prison where some author in Japan had spent 5 years or something at. He apparently wrote a book about his experiences at the prison and what he did to fit in and survive as a Japanese man and apparently was a huge best seller. This is a medium security prison in the middle of nowhere, Oregon with less than a thousand prisoners. He also showed me a book that ranked the different countries on how dangerous they were and America ranked higher than Russia 
So yeah. They seem to have a fascination with the ‘dangers’ of other countries.
It’s just mind-boggling, to think that he seriously wants to go back there, EVEN NOW… his wife and children were imprisoned 6 years the last time he decided to change his mind.
Maybe a light sentence for North Koreans, but dear lord, six years of hard labor for the crime of being married to someone who defected! A nationally famous pop singer, to boot - working in the coal mines because her husband (that she was coerced into marrying in the first place!) decided to flee.
Yes, that guy is a first-class tool.
Maybe restaurants don’t want to hire him because he’s a shitbag.
Indeed.
It’s creepy to read that Kim could reach outside Korea and kidnap women from other countries. If that’s true, then I wonder if any Americans have been grabbed?
Neighboring countries. Which doesn’t make it better or anything, just logistically simpler.
I doubt it. It sounds impractical, it’d provoke the U.S., and on top of its other flaws North Korea is extremely racist.
The article says how his father’s beatings taught him to have “a high tolerance for uncertainty, erratic behavior, simmering danger, and sudden violence,” but it sounds like what it really taught him was to look out for number one.
He didn’t just kidnap her, he also later kidnapped her (ex?)husband – who was a very accomplished movie director in his own right – when he went to Hong Kong to look for her. While in captivity, he directed what’s considered to be NK’s most epic and blockbuster film ever made, Pulgasari, which was a socialist take on Godzilla. You can watch the trailer, or if you’re so inclined, the full movie with English subtitles.
He wrote his memoirs in a book called Kingdom of Kim, but only in Korean, so this Salon article based on a translation appears to be the best way to read about that in English.
I suspect he’s been content to live off royalties from his books.
I’m baffled how this guy is still alive. He returned to N Korea after Kim’s death? They knew he’d been giving interviews about N. Korea. They even let him return to Japan afterward. This guy was born under a lucky star.
Gotta love how he says his N. Korean wife “only” spent six years at a coal mine to be re-educated. :dubious: This guys priorities are just unbelievable. He’s betrayed just about every person he ever knew. Including Kim. 
Conceivably he’s spying for one or both sides (and getting paid by each one).