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The teenage dictator who drove a Mercedes, smoked menthols and was obsessed with Van Damme: Kim Jong Un's bizarre childhood, by his father's sushi chef
- North Korean despot had specially adapted car when he was just seven
- Kim bought gym kit and protein shakes to be like Jean-Claude Van Damme
- Revelations from Kim Jong Il's personal sushi chef Kenji Fujimoto
By Hugo Gye
PUBLISHED:06:20 EST, 21 April 2013| UPDATED:07:40 EST, 21 April 2013
Kim Jong Un may be fond of fiery anti-Western rhetoric, but in fact the North Korean dictator is obsessed with the European and American lifestyle, according to a man who has known him since he was a little boy.
Kenji Fujimoto, who served as the personal sushi chef of Kim's father Kim Jong Il for 13 years, has revealed that the 30-year-old despot is a fan of the Beatles and longs to look like Hollywood star Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Kim also drinks Bordeaux wine, smokes Cartier menthol cigarettes and has enjoyed driving around his palace in a Mercedes since he was just seven years old.
Threats: But North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is a secret lover of the Western lifestyle, it has been revealed
Mr Fujimoto has known Kim for more than two decades after he was hired to cook delicacies from his native Japan for Kim Jong Il in 1988.
He managed to defect in 2001 by pretending to travel to Japan in search of a rare type of sea urchin, and has since written a series of books about the secretive North Korean regime.
The cook told The Sun this week that even though Kim Jong Un has issued a string of apocalyptic threats directed at the West, he loves to indulge in luxuries denied to his famine-stricken countrymen.
Kim's cigarette of choice is Cartier menthols, while his preferred drink is Bordeaux - unlike his father, who drank so much expensive cognac that he was thought to be one of Hennessy's best customers.
Warlike: The 30-year-old dictator has issued a series of thundering pronouncements directed at the West
Claims: Kenji Fujimoto, who was Kim Jong Il's sushi chef, has opened up about his former boss
He also enjoys Hollywood hits, and the Beatles are his favourite Western band.
One film in particular had a big impact on Kim, when a Jean-Claude Van Damme karate movie inspired him to start bulking up so he could look more like the Belgian star.
'His action is so awesome,' the teenager said, according to Mr Fujimoto, who added: 'He started buying fitness equipment and taking protein supplements.'
When the future leader was a child, he learned how to drive a Mercedes and would take it for a spin around the grounds of the presidential palace.
'He drove it perfectly when he was only seven,' Mr Fujimoto told The Sun. 'They made a special seat for him because he could not reach the pedals.'
The chef - who uses a pseudonym - has previously revealed that Kim Jong Il, who died in 2011, enjoyed eating fish which had been killed so recently that it was still moving.
He also described how the unhinged despot would order his staff to dance with scantily clad girls, and claimed that he had been married off to one of the exotic dancers.
Close: Kenji Fujimoto embraces Kim Jong Un, who he knew as a child, after returning to North Korea last year
Fan: Kim was obsessed with Jean-Claude Van Damme, left, and the Beatles, right, when he was growing up
Mr Fujimoto managed to escape North Korea by showing Kim a video of a Japanese cooking programme featuring a sea urchin dish, and persuading the dictator to allow him to travel to Japan in an attempt to recreate the meal.
However, he returned to the country last year and was pictured sharing a hug with the despot he knew as a child, claiming that the situation in North Korea had improved since he left.
Kim Jong Un has put the West on high alert in recent weeks by issuing blood-curdling threats to launch nuclear attacks on South Korea, the U.S. and Europe.
North Korea has apparently been amassing troops in preparation for renewed hostilities, and although the situation seems to have cooled this week the country's enemies have remained ready for the possibility of military confrontation.
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