Kyodo News/Reuters

Kenji Fujimoto, ex-sushi chef to Kim Jong Il, appeared to shed tears Thursday recalling the day he learned of a possible rapprochement with Pyongyang’s Kim dynasty.

Once the late leader’s trusted chef, Mr. Fujimoto abandoned North Korea and his family there in 2001, returning to Japan to write a book about his life and times with Mr. Kim–and take on a pseudonym out of security concerns.

But on an emotional day in the summer, Mr. Fujimoto said he was visited by a “messenger” who said North Korea’s new leader, Kim Jong Eun, wanted him to travel to Pyongyang to see him. Read More »