North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, a notoriously heavy smoker, was advised by South Korean National Security Council chief Chung Eui-yong to quit smoking during their meeting early last month — an exchange that left Kim's onetime spy chief reportedly frozen in terror over how the supreme leader might react, a report said Sunday.
The episode, reported by the Asahi Shimbun daily, occurred during a March 5 dinner involving Kim and a South Korean delegation at his ruling party's headquarters, where Chung and other top South Korean officials became the first from Seoul to meet with the North Korean leader in person since he took power following the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, in late 2011.
"How about stopping smoking? It's bad for your health," Chung was quoted as saying by Asahi, which cited multiple inter-Korean governmental sources.