Another time, he succeeded in meeting the ambassador at an event on Beijing’s diplomatic circuit and received his business card. At least once, he spotted Ambassador Choe Jin Su at the Pyongyanggwan restaurant in Beijing’s Chaoyang District, where DPRK businesses cluster together, but earned only a glacial smile from the diplomat. He would frequent the North Korean restaurants, chatting up waitresses for information and keeping an eye out for key figures. From a bench near Pyongyang’s embassy in Beijing, he would observe the people entering and leaving the building, calling out to them to talk to him. Īfter Seoul, Gomi was sent to Beijing as a foreign correspondent, where he continued gathering news on Korean affairs. From the beginning of his career, in the city that he came to see as his second hometown, Gomi honed his strengths: a relentless journalistic drive and a penchant for research. He would spend his mornings in the office, reading news from Republic of Korea (ROK) media and translating some items for his company, then leave in the afternoon to chase stories late into the evening. In early 1999, the newspaper sent him back to Seoul for nearly three years to report on Korean affairs. In 1996, early in his career at the newspaper Chunichi Shimbun, Gomi’s employer sent him to Seoul for a year of intensive study at the prestigious Yonsei University’s Korea Language Institute, where Japanese diplomats, traders and other professionals go to learn the language and culture. His new book exemplifies the skills he’s honed over the years and provides an insightful discussion about the challenges North Korea faces and the potential contenders for the successor to Kim Jong Un, in case of his demise. A former Fulbright Visiting Scholar in Washington, DC, the author or co-author of nearly 20 books, and now an editorial writer for the Tokyo Shimbun, Gomi has had a remarkable career. One such newsman is Gomi Yoji, who, over many years, has chased, researched and written articles and books about the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). The ideal of the samurai in old Japan was that of a warrior proficient in the arts of both war (武) and scholarship (文) the paragon of a Japanese journalist today would be a reporter relentless in the hunt for the scoop and still rigorous in research. Japanese Cover of “The Day That Kim Jong Un Disappears From Center Stage” by Gomi Yoji 金正恩が表舞台から消える日：北朝鮮 水面下の権力闘争 (Kin Seion ga omote butai kara kieru hi: Kitachosen suimenka no kenryoku toso)īy Gomi Yoji.
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