Sushi in Pyongyang: Japanese chef to Kim Jong-il opens rare restaurant in North’s capital

It’s rare to find a Japanese business openly operating in North Korea, because of strained relations between the two countries

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A sushi set is displayed on a table at the restaurant of Japanese sushi chef Kenji Fujimoto in Pyongyang. Photo: AP

Published: 2:45pm, 5 Mar 2017Updated: 10:12am, 6 Mar 2017

Sushi in Pyongyang? At a restaurant run by a Japanese sushi chef famous for working for North Korea’s late leader Kim Jong-il?

Kenji Fujimoto has opened his sushi restaurant in the North Korean capital, according to Canadian Michael Spavor, a consultant with a long record of working in the communist state. He was involved with NBA star Dennis Rodman’s trips to North Korea, and the two spent days with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who succeeded his father after his death in 2011.

Spavor said he was introduced to Fujimoto just last year, when he learnt about the chef’s plans to open a restaurant in Pyongyang and tried to track it down early this year.

“I was quite excited, because I’d heard quite a lot about him,” Spavor said. “So one day, for lunch, we met up, and we got along great, he speaks fluent Korean, so we spoke Korean, and that’s when he mentioned to me he was planning on opening up a ramen restaurant or a sushi restaurant in Pyongyang.”

Kenji Fujimoto works behind the counter of his new restaurant in Pyongyang. Photo: AP

It’s rare to find a Japanese business openly operating in North Korea, because of strained relations between the two countries.

But Fujimoto is a special case. He worked for Kim Jong-il for many years. After Kim’s death, Fujimoto reappeared in Pyongyang meeting with the new leader in images he shared with Japanese media.