The lack of information about Kim Jong Il and his likely successor, his son Kim Jong Un, speaks volumes about just how closed a society North Korea is.
Even among foreign intelligence circles, little has been gathered about this future leader.
Much of what the world does know comes from a man who for more than a decade was the Kim family's personal chef.
Al Jazeera's Steve Chao caught up with him in Japan, where he is today in hiding.
Content on this website is for general information purposes only. Your comments are provided by your own free will and you take sole responsibility for any direct or indirect liability. You hereby provide us with an irrevocable, unlimited, and global license for no consideration to use, reuse, delete or publish comments, in accordance with Community Rules & Guidelines and Terms and Conditions.