North Korean leader imports luxury items despite food shortage...

The Financial Times says North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has continued to import luxury items despite his country’s food shortage.

The British daily quoted South Korean intelligence officials as saying that the reclusive leader “has added Chinese dolphins, French poodles, and African aphrodisiacs to the luxury goods he imports into the impoverished country.”

The Times also reported the Bank of Korea issued data earlier on Thursday which provided “rare insight into economic mismanagement” by the North.

The daily said that by posting negative economic growth in 2009 and 2010, the North Korean government's pledge to build a powerful nation by 2012 in time for the 100th anniversary of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung’s birth is suffering setbacks.

Meanwhile, the daily said that “defectors claim Kim enjoys hunting, and has a number of lodges around the country with menageries filled with boar, deer, and even seals.”
(KBS World Radio, 2011-11-05)