Dennis Rodman Visits North Korea

By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 26, 2013 5:40PM

Former Bull and walking pin cushion Dennis Rodman is in North Korea as part of a Vice Media production for HBO set to air in April. Rodman joined three members of the Harlem Globetrotters in what Vice founder Shane Smith said was a “basketball diplomacy” mission to the DPRK. (We can’t help but imagine Rodman and the Globetrotters teaching North Koreans how to play basketball using a peach basket nailed to a tree, like James Naismith originally did.)

It turns out Rodman has an admirer in North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who was a huge fan of the 1995-98 Bulls that won three championships and featured Rodman, Michael Jordan and Toni Kukoc, Kim’s favorite player. The Washington Post had a 2009 profile of Kim that revealed him to be a huge hoops fan and a fierce competitor who hated to lose and “spent hours doing meticulous pencil drawings” of Jordan.

Deadspin joked that we should start preparing for The End with Rodman in North Korea, but we should actually be thankful Vice didn’t get Jordan to agree to this trip. He’s probably the one person even more cutthroat a competitor than Kim, if the Post profile is to be believed. Here’s hoping Rodman and Kim find common ground discussing the advantages of the triple post offense while the Globetrotters toss buckets of confetti at North Koreans.