Kim Jong Il visited the Sakju Foodstuff Factory on July 19, 2002.
After making the rounds of the production lines, he headed for the exhibition hall. An official of the factory boasted that the soy sauce and bean paste on display were delicious.
“Is that so?” said the visitor, urging the officials in his company to have a taste of them.
They all agreed that the soy sauce and bean paste had a good taste. But one of them said that the bean paste on display had a better taste than that in the line of fermentation.
A senior official of the local province was baffled, wondering if the product was brought from another factory.
Other officials shook their heads in bewilderment.
“You are wrong,” snorted Kim Jong Il.
Pointing at a bowl of bean paste, he said, “The bean paste you tasted in the line of fermentation has yet to mature and the one on display has already matured, so they have different tastes. It is natural that the latter has a more pleasant taste.”
Looking round at the officials of the province, he said with a smile that he would be obliged if they sent him a jar of this bean paste later so that he would make a tasty soup by mixing it with young bok choy.
