Dennis Rodman: In defense of his North Korean adventure
Should Dennis Rodman鈥檚 latest trip to North Korea be welcomed or condemned? That鈥檚 a hot topic at the moment as the bestudded former National Basketball Association star readies for an exhibition basketball game in Pyongyang.
Since his first visit to the hermit kingdom of East Asia in February, Mr. Rodman has struck up an unlikely friendship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Now he鈥檚 back in-country with a 12-member team of retired NBA journeymen and other US hoop semi-stars. They鈥檙e set to play a team of North Koreans on Wednesday, which is reportedly Kim鈥檚 birthday. It鈥檚 all about engaging in a little light sports diplomacy, according to Rodman.
鈥淥ne day this door is going to open,鈥� he said Tuesday in an interview with CNN from Pyongyang.
Unfortunately, that鈥檚 not all Rodman said. After all, this is a guy who dresses as if every day was Mardi Gras and speaks his own language, which seems half expletives and half random nouns. Asked by CNN鈥檚 Chris Cuomo if he鈥檇 bring up with his friend Kim the subject of Kenneth Bae, an American citizen long imprisoned in North Korea on vague charges, Rodman at first implied that Bae was guilty of something.
鈥淵ou know what he did? In this country?鈥� Rodman ranted.
Then he yelled in his inimitable incoherent deep rasp for several minutes.
鈥淲e have to go back to America and take the abuse!鈥� was one of his understandable lines.
OK, here鈥檚 the problem. Many human rights activists and US officials think it鈥檚 wrong for Rodman to go to North Korea and pal around with a guy who happens to run one of more repressive regimes in human history. Didn鈥檛 Kim just execute his own uncle?
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we should ignore the real suffering in this gulag state. And Dennis Rodman wants to go there and play basketball. It would be like inviting Adolf Hitler to lunch,鈥� said Rep. Eliot Engel of New York, the top Democratic member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, in a Monday news conference on the subject.
Plus, it鈥檚 Dennis Rodman we are talking about. It鈥檚 not as if he鈥檚 going to be giving North Koreans a glimpse of what typical Americans are like. He isn鈥檛 even representative of US basketball stars. NBA commissioner David Stern has made it clear the league disapproves of the venture.
鈥淎lthough sports in many instances can be helpful in bridging cultural divides, this is not one of them,鈥� said Mr. Stern in a statement.
But here鈥檚 the counter argument: It鈥檚 North Korea we鈥檙e talking about. The US probably knows less about what really happens in North Korea than in any other country on earth. And they have nuclear weapons! So, you know, every bit helps.
The presence of a tall, exotic foreigner in photos next to their leader is unlikely to make any difference in North Koreans鈥� allegiance, or lack thereof, to the state, argues Andrei Lankov, a Korea studies specialist, in . If anything, it may give them a slightly better view of the US. The official North Korean narrative about America has long stressed its oppression of blacks. Rodman鈥檚 status as an unofficial emissary in this context might be surprising.
Of course, Rodman and his team members and entourage will only actually speak with a limited number of elite North Korean athletes and officials. But you have to start changing attitudes somewhere, a drop at a time, according to Mr. Lankov. It is not as if official diplomatic outreach to Pyongyang is making progress.
鈥淲hile Rodman鈥檚 activities are not going to change much, let us hope that many more Western athletes, scientists and artists will follow him to Pyongyang to participate in all kinds of exchanges and projects (big and small),鈥� writes Lankov. 鈥淚solation will not change North Korea 鈥� only interaction with the outside world gives us some reason to hope.鈥�
As International Crisis Group East Asia expert Daniel Pinkston , Rodman鈥檚 basketball diplomacy could become a mechanism for the introduction of new ideas and information into one of the most closed societies in the world.
The alternative is isolation. Thus despite Rodman鈥檚 flamboyance his trip 鈥渟hould be encouraged since it comes with very little risk and cost,鈥� Mr. Pinkston wrote in an analysis for ICG.
