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First ladies of Koreas

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By Nam Sang-so

Ri Sol-ju is the wife of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Japanese media have quite accurate inside stories of Pyongyang's palace, as it happened to be Japanese chef Kenji Fujimoto (a penname) who had been an exclusive chef for the Kim family. He has occasionally revealed his experiences to Japanese media.

Fujimoto became a member of the Communist Party and received the Korean name Bak Chul in 1990. Kim Jong-un's predecessor and father, Kim Jong-il, had loved Bak's cooking and trusted him. He was allowed to play with his children Jong-chul and Jong-un when they were young.

In 1989, the chef married North Korean folk singer Um Jong-nyo and they have a son and daughter. In 2001, Bak returned to Japan. He returned to Pyongyang and in 2017 opened up a Japanese restaurant in the Rakwon Department Store offering Japanese cuisine to the elite citizens of Pyongyang. Living closely with the whole Kim family, chef Bak, or Fujimoto, was the only person who could have correctly predicted Kim Jong-un would eventually succeed his father.

Now returning to Ri, who was talented in music and attended Kumsung Academy which is for the children of diplomats and members of the central communist party. She was a member of Unhasu Orchestra. Ri married Kim Jong-un in 2009. They had a son in the summer of 2010. And a girl whose name is Kim Ju-ae was born in January 2013 ― this information was told by the American basketball player Dennis Rodman. Their third child is known as a boy.

The peoples of the two Koreas were greatly touched when the first lady of the South Kim Jung-sook gave Ri a warm motherly hug in Panmunjeom truce village on April 27. That lovely scene has melted the hearts of many South Koreans.

North Koreans recently fumed about South Korea-U.S. joint Air Force exercises and threatened to end the reconciliatory atmosphere. It would be a good time for our first lady to visit Pyongyang and show her motherly love and sooth the irritated minds of North Koreans.

The writer (sangsonam@gmail.com) is a translator.