Rodman Meets With North Korean Leader, Courtside
Jason Mojica/VICE Media, via Associated Press
The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, and the former N.B.A. star Dennis Rodman watched an exhibition basketball game in Pyongyang on Thursday.
By LYNN ZINSER
Photographs of Dennis Rodman laughing while watching a basketball exhibition in Pyongyang, North Korea, with Kim Jong-un, the leader of one of the world’s most repressive countries, may be some of the strangest sights in the history of accidental American diplomacy.
Not only did Kim attend the game Thursday and watch alongside Rodman, but he also invited Rodman, three Harlem Globetrotters and the Vice Media crew filming the trip for a documentary to his palace for a party, said Shane Smith, the founder of Vice Media, who dreamed up and organized the trip.
The group landed in Pyongyang on Tuesday with approval from North Korean authorities to conduct the exhibitions and film the documentary, but it was not promised that Kim would meet with the group.
“Apparently, he had a blast at the game,” Smith said, after speaking by phone with Ryan Duffy, a Vice Media correspondent who was on the trip. “So he invited them back to his home for a party, and they had a grand old time. Speeches were made — Dennis made a very nice one — and they were met with rounds of applause.”
The scene was particularly bizarre because of the tense relations between the United States and North Korea, which made that relationship more difficult recently by declaring it had conducted a nuclear test. Google’s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, went in January to try to persuade the leadership to allow Internet access for more than a fraction of its people, but he did not report meeting with Kim.
Basketball, though, apparently has the power to thaw most anything because Kim, like his father, Kim Jong-il, is said to be a devoted fan. Rodman and Kim Jong-un talked without a translator assisting them courtside. Duffy said that the two spoke in English but that Kim spoke only limited English and that a translator was used at the dinner.
Smith said communication with his crew had been difficult, but he spoke with Duffy by phone for a bit and via Skype. He said his crew was allowed to film the party, as well as Kim’s appearance at the exhibition game. The video will be used on the HBO series “Vice,” which will make its debut on April 5.
The exhibition game featured 12 North Korean players on mixed teams with the American contingent, led by the three Globetrotters: Anthony Blakes, Alex Weekes and Will Bullard. Duffy also played.
Rodman spent the game watching from a courtside table with Kim. Rodman also gave a speech to the crowd, in which he told Kim, “You have a friend for life.”
The game was said to end in a 110-110 tie.
Kim expressed to Rodman that he hoped this would improve North Korean-American relations, Smith said Duffy told him. Duffy said he invited Kim to the United States.
“We just couldn’t have asked for anything more,” Smith said. “It was a long shot, no pun intended. We knew he loves the Chicago Bulls and he was a huge basketball fan, and we hoped he would want to meet a five-time N.B.A. champion” and a Chicago Bull.
“But we had no guarantees,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment