How Dennis and Kim's 'bromance' is causing a diplomatic conundrum
The unlikely 'bromance' between a tattooed, pierced, foul-mouthed, drunken former basketball star and the Supreme Leader of a rogue nuclear power has created something of a conundrum for diplomats, writes David Hill
''You guys think this is a joke. This is not a joke." Dennis Rodman is seated at the dais in a conference room at New York's Soho Grand Hotel behind a bronze bust of himself. Next to him is a smartly dressed Irish bookmaker named Paddy Power. On Power's other side is Daniel Pinkston, a North Korea expert with the International Crisis Group, a pro-Nato think tank that focuses on war and violent conflict. Before them is a sea of reporters and cameras. Despite Rodman's admonishment, a television personality from Fox Sports wearing a shirt that says "I love dear leader" clearly thinks this is a joke. He asks the former pro basketball player if he would share the personal phone number of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. Everyone laughs.
"I have all their personal logistics. Private phone numbers, e-mails, everything," Rodman responds. The laughter stops. This is not a joke.
Rodman is here to make "big announcements" about his recent trip to North Korea as the guest of Kim, his second in a year. And big announcements he delivers. During his seaside holiday with the Supreme Leader's family, Rodman cut a deal not only to stage a series of exhibition basketball games in North Korea with ex-NBA (National Basketball Association) stars but also to train the North Korean team for the upcoming Olympics. He even invited Kim to a New York Knicks game.
Should any one of these things actually happen, it would be a historic event. No North Korean leader has ever visited the United States. Just this past spring, Kim threatened a nuclear attack on US bases.
"I'm pretty important now, right?" Rodman asks. "Call me, Obama. I've got the inside track." He's beating his chest, but he's also kind of right. This most unserious man, who holds a celebrity-wrestling title and three Razzies (awarded in recognition of the worst the film world has to offer) alongside his five NBA-championship rings, now holds the keys to the Hermit Kingdom. This is America's guy in Pyongyang.
Rodman's first dive into international diplomacy came last autumn, when the media company Vice invited him to shoot an episode for its new HBO series. Vice reporters had visited the country in 2008 for an online series in which they exposed North Korean labour camps in Siberia. The regime wasn't thrilled, so to win them over for a second trip, Vice suggested bringing in the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team for some goodwill games. The North Koreans seemed unmoved, so the media company offered to bring a former member of the Chicago Bulls' championship squad, an idea inspired by the revelation during Vice's first trip that one of Kim Jong-il's most prized possessions had been a Michael Jordan-signed basketball presented to him by then US secretary of state Madeleine Albright.