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Kim Jong Il spent day touring soy sauce factory

wrahn Contributor
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With his country on the brink of war, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il spent today reinforcing stereotypes about his own eccentricity: He took his youngest son and heir apparent on a tour of a soy sauce factory.

That’s according to a report by North Korea’s state news agency, excerpted by the south’s Yonhap service. The North Korean dictator and his third son, Kim Jong Un — who recently became a four-star general in order to one day succeed his father — also visited a medical school in Pyongyang, the report said.

The news didn’t appear on the Korean Central News Agency’s English-language website, where translations often lag by a few days. Yonhap said the report was dated today but didn’t specify when the two Kims visited the soy sauce factory.

Word of Kim’s odd sightseeing schedule came amid speculation about his whereabouts, and about whether he personally authorized today’s attack on a South Korean border island. North Korean artillery sent more than 100 shells raining down on Yeonpyeong Island, killing two South Korean marines and wounding at least 18 other people.

Full story: With Koreas on Edge, Kim Jong Il Tours Soy Sauce Plant