TOKYO (Yonhap) -- A Japanese chef who escaped from North Korea a decade ago after serving a young Kim Jong-un will revisit the North next month, he said Thursday, after a prior return trip to the North earlier this month.
The 65-year-old man, who uses the assumed name of Fujimoto Kenji for security reasons, flew to Pyongyang on July 21 via Beijing and met North Korean leader Kim during his two-week trip. It was the chef's first visit to the North since he fled the country in 2001 while under suspicion of espionage.
Appearing on the Japanese commercial TV station TBS on Thursday, Kenji said he will fly to North Korea once more in September.
News reports said that during his recent visit, Kim gave Kenji permission to travel freely between Japan and North Korea.
TBS said the unusual travel permission granted the chef shows the North's intention to set a favorable tone for North-Japan relations ahead of the 10th anniversary of a landmark North-Japan summit on Sept. 17.
It also seems to aim at promoting an open-minded image for the new leader, the television station said.
In his TBS appearance on Wednesday, Kenji said Kim threw a welcome party for him in Pyongyang, then displayed color photographs of himself embracing the young leader and shaking hands with Kim's wife, Ri Sol-ju, during the party.
During their reunion, Kenji told Kim, "Comrade general, the traitor has come back," and Kim responded "No no, I forget about the betrayal," the Japanese chef said in the Wednesday TV appearance.
He said Kim's younger sister; the fourth and most recent wife of late leader Kim Jong-il, Kim Ok; and Kim's uncle Jang Song-thaek also attended the party.
Kim's wife Ri reportedly told the chef, "The leader Kim has often talked about Kenji."
Kenji is known to have been Kim's private sushi chef and companion during Kim's childhood before secretly returning to Japan in 2001. His wife and daughter still live in the North.
The Japanese chef has said a Korean resident in Japan secretly delivered an invitation from Kim to him in June and a high-ranking North Korean official escorted him from Beijing to Pyongyang for his recent North Korean visit.
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