Kim Jong-il enjoys raw fish so fresh "that it is still moving" washed down with fine French wines and brandies.

Kenji Fujimoto, a 56-year-old chef, who is in hiding in Japan after fleeing North Korea, and is set to publish a book called I Was Kim Jong-il’s Cook, says,

"He particularly enjoyed raw fish so fresh that he could start eating as its mouth is still gasping and the tail is still thrashing. I sliced the fish so as not to puncture any of the vital organs, so of course it was still moving. was delighted. He would eat with gusto."

But a bites.ksu.edu reader says,

I was an English teacher in South Korea a couple of years ago, and one of my colleagues once told me about how she was treated to a dinner with something similar. The fish was still live, but laid out on the plate with its side cut into sashimi pieces. She said the fish looked at her while she contemplated digging in (I don’t think she did, in the end).