Kim Jong Il's Austrian fetish

Posted By Joshua Keating Monday, March 8, 2010 - 10:47 AM Share

The thing about wacky Kim Jong Il stories is that they're generally impossible to prove or disprove so it's gnereally best to treat them as little more than curiosities. That's certainly true of Kim's apparent taste for all things Austrian:

"He only ate foreign food," the colonel said. "In Vienna, there was a special attache, a friend of mine, who only procured special foreign food for the dictator."

Kim Il-sung's craving once led to a delegation of cooks being sent to Austria to visit renowned culinary schools and some of the country's finest restaurants to collect recipes. The colonel, who speaks German fluently, served as translator.

"'Learn everything' – that's what they were told," the defector said. "The crazy dictators heard rumours that Austrian cuisine was world-famous and that's why they wanted [the cooks] to come here."

No offense to the homeland of Mozart, Frued and Rilke but I'm not sure Austria would be my first choice for culinary delights if I were a dictator with unlimited resources.

EXPLORE:EAST ASIA, NORTH KOREA

(0)

HIDE COMMENTS LOGIN OR REGISTER REPORT ABUSE

Passport, FP’s flagship blog, brings you news and hidden angles on the biggest stories of the day, as well as insights and under-the-radar gems from around the world.