Korean Nukes Linked to Japanese Pinball December 4, 2006
Pachinko, a form of pinball deeply loved in Japan, is an industry run by ethnic Koreans, and experts have long believed that the revenues are a vital source of hard currency for the impoverished regime in North Korea. Now, as Kim Jong Il's nuclear weapons program gathers pace, Japan's attitude is hardening, and that includes shutting out the ferry on which money is believed to be hand-carried from Japan to North Korea.
He was born Kim Sung Jong in 1952 to Korean parents in Osaka. His father was a poor immigrant who built himself a fortune in taxis, property and pachinko, the addictive Japanese version of bagatelle. At 15, Kim Sung Jong was sent to the preparatory school for the private and prestigious Keio University in Tokyo. There he studied politics and law. It was at this time that he underwent surgery on his eyes to make them larger and less oriental, and he took on a new, Japanese name, Seisho Hoshiyama. When Seisho was 17, his father died in Hong Kong. Seisho shared the vast inheritance with his two brothers and, at the age of 21, underwent another shift of identity, taking on Japanese nationality and the name of Joji Obara. 【The Time August 17, 2005】
(英文の簡訳) Kim Sung Jong(オバラの本名)は1952年に韓国人の両親のもと大阪に生まれた。父親はまずしい移民 出身で、タクシー業、不動産業、パチンコ経営などで富みを築く。 15歳で慶応大附属高に入学。専攻は政治と法律。この時期にアジア人離れして見えるようにと目を大きく 見せる整形手術をし、日本名Seisho Hoshiyamaと名乗る。 17歳で父親が死ぬと他の2人の兄弟とともに莫大な遺産を継ぎ、21歳で日本国籍を取得して、 日本名織原城二を名乗る。