New Jersey Man Praises North Korean Leader

New Jersey native Robert Egan serves as an “unofficial ambassador” for the government of North Korea. When he’s not behind the counter of his barbecue restaurant in Hackensack, New Jersey, Egan runs a trade group that’s worked to improve ties between North Korea and the United States. Anchor Marco Werman speaks with him.

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Marco Werman: New Jersey native Robert Egan serves as an unofficial ambassador for the government of North Korea. When he’s not behind the counter of his barbecue restaurant in Hackensack, Egan is running a trade group that’s worked to improve ties between North Korea and the US. Egan’s work has been profiled in The New Yorker as well as on this program. When we reached him at his restaurant today he was full of praise for the late Kim Jong Il.

Robert Egan: Nobody can dispute that we know more about North Korea today than we’ve ever known before and all that credit goes to Kim Jong Il. He was the one that was responsible for cracking that door open.

Werman: You almost make Kim Jong Il sound like a reformer.

Egan: Yeah, he was a reformer as far as dictators go. Let’s face it, it was a bad year for dictators. Kim Jong Il saw this coming years ago…

Werman: But he was also a man who has starved over a million of his own people.

Egan: No, he didn’t starve a million of his own people, okay? What he inherited in the division of the Korean Peninsula after WWII starved a million people. We cut that country in half after it was united for 5,000 years because we didn’t want to go to war with Russia, okay, we gave half that peninsula to the Russians and Stalin.

Werman: Robert Egan, tell me how you became involved with the government of North Korea.

Egan: North Koreans were investigating how Vietnam achieved a roadmap toward normalized relations with the US. The knew the route to do that like with Vietnam was to get normalized relations with the US. I walked Vietnam through the roadmap of normalized relations with the US. North Korea went knocking on Vietnam’s door, they asked for a recommendation, and Vietnam recommended me.

Werman: Did you ever meet Kim Jong Il?

Egan: No, I didn’t. Actually I was at the same ceremony as him, but he was certainly a guy working at my level doesn’t get those opportunities too often, but it was his regime and the men that were working under him that allowed me to have access to non-governmental organizations over the years, brought many, many top secret North Korean delegations over to the United States to negotiate with the United States. I brought delegations over to North Korea.

Werman: So what kind of window through those upper level officials in North Korea, what kind of window did you get into the man Kim Jong Il? I mean what do you know about him that the rest of us don’t know?

Egan: He liked women, he liked cigars and he liked booze. He was a regular guy, and certainly he knew that his country was in a lot of trouble. Well, he sought out help from the west. Did he come as far as we would have liked him? Of course not, he’s a dictator, but certainly I think it’s time now to reflect back and to encourage whoever steps into his shoes to open up more. And be doing that we need to recognize the liberties that Kim Jong Il gave his own people to interact with his enemies.

Werman: You once said that you were Kim Jong Il’s man in New Jersey. Will those loyalties now shift to his son, Kim Jong Un?

Egan: You know, there’s a lot of doubt whether he’s gonna be able to maintain that…

Werman: Are you hoping that the crack…

Egan: that his father and his grandfather had.

Werman: Right, but are you hoping that maybe the crack gets wider and there’s a role for you to play now?

Egan: No, you know, this is what I hope — I hope it becomes a democracy. Okay, and I hope some of my guys that I know run for office, maybe one of them [unknown 03:14] North Korea.

Werman: Have you spoken to any of them, Robert Egan, in the last 24 hours?

Egan: Yes, yes, I’ve spoken with a few of them.

Werman: And what have they told you?

Egan: There’s uncertainty and they’re sad. You know, even if your father has been abusive and he dies, are you gonna cry at the funeral? Of course you’re gonna cry. Well, this was their father. He’s a colt-like figure, so certainly at this point you know, they’re gonna be sad. I think as time goes on then they can reflect back and to see you know, exactly the atrocities that were committed. There were millions of people that needlessly died, not because Kim Jong Il killed them, but this is the system that he inherited.

Werman: We’ve been speaking with Bob Egan about the death of North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il. Egan’s book about his personal outreach efforts to the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea is Eating With the Enemy: How I Wages Peace with North Korea from My BBQ Shack in Hackensack. Robert, thank a lot.

Egan: Okay, thanks for having me on. I really appreciate it.

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