Dennis Rodman heads to North Korea for second trip in a year

[webfact]

Basketball star Dennis Rodman heads to Pyongyang for second trip in a year
By Peter Shadbolt, CNN

(CNN) -- Former basketball star Dennis Rodman was headed to Pyongyang Tuesday on a five-day visit amid speculation he may try to negotiate the release of jailed U.S. citizen Kenneth Bae.

In Beijing, the gateway for flights to Pyongyang, Rodman told Reuters he was on another "basketball diplomacy tour" and would not be discussing the release of Bae.

"I'm not going to North Korea to discuss freeing Kenneth Bae," Rodman told Reuters in a telephone interview before he left Beijing for Pyongyang. "I've come out here to see my friend (Kim) -- and I want to talk about basketball," he added.

Later pushing through a throng of journalists at Beijing airport, the 6 foot 7 inch (2.01 meter) former basketballer said: "I'm just trying to go over there to meet my friend Kim, the Marshal. Try to start a basketball league over there, something like that."

Full story: http://us.cnn.com/2013/09/03/world/asia/north-korea-rodman/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

-- CNN 2013-09-03

[lee b]

This guy is a STAR !!

[Sing_Sling]

Let's see . . . isolation and under constant threat of being bombarded by the most powerful military nation on earth for the last 50+ years . . .

or

. . . bridging the divide by basketball.

Possibly worth a try since the first avenue has worked so well

[Chicog]

With any luck, he'll stay there, the tosser.

[NCC1701A]

Say hello to Kim's girlfriend for me...

[grantbkk]

Visits, brings home an American prisoner, priceless. This would be quite a story.

[Sing_Sling]

 

Say hello to Kim's girlfriend for me...

. . . maybe he'll find more dead women in Kennedy's closet as well . . .

[bangkapi]

From what I've read, I'd also like to be tapping the "Joy Brigade".

[webfact]

Ex-NBA star Rodman arrives in N. Korea to meet "friend" Kim Jong-un

PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA (BNO NEWS) -- Former U.S. basketball superstar Dennis Rodman arrived in North Korea on Tuesday to meet his "friend" Kim Jong-un for a second time, but he indicated he had no plans to negotiate the release of a Korean American man jailed for plotting to overthrow the North Korean government.

Rodman, who is nicknamed "The Worm" and was known for his fierce defensive and rebounding abilities during his basketball career, arrived Tuesday at Pyongyang Sunan International Airport in the North Korean capital. He, along with his delegation, was greeted by a North Korean vice sports minister.

But Rodman and North Korean officials played down hopes that the basketball superstar would use the visit to negotiate the release of jailed Korean American Pae Jun Ho, who is better known by his American name Kenneth Bae. The visit comes just days after a senior American diplomat was to visit Pyongyang to discuss the case, but the North rescinded its invitation at the last moment.

"I'm just going over there and meet my friend Kim, the marshal, and try to start a new basketball league over there, and stuff like that," Rodman told reporters in the Chinese capital of Beijing before boarding a flight to Pyongyang, according to the Kyodo news agency. He said he hoped to meet Kim, an avid basketball fan, either later on Tuesday or on Wednesday.

After his arrival in Pyongyang, Rodman told reporters at the airport that he was "happy to come back here, to meet my friend," according to China's state-run Xinhua news agency. The retired NBA star was said to be wearing dark sunglasses, a cap and a t-shirt emblazoned with his name and likeness.

A source at North Korea's Sports Ministry told Xinhua that Rodman's visit "has nothing to do" with the case of Bae, as preparations for this week's trip began as early as late July. The source said the delegation is scheduled to give a basketball clinic, watch a Taekwondo performance, watch a women's football match, and travel to Mt. Kumgang during their four to five day stay.

Rodman first visited North Korea in late February, when tensions soared in the wake of the North's third nuclear test and Pyongyang's hostile response to new international sanctions and joint South Korea-U.S. military drills. He attended an exhibition basketball match with Kim and called the North Korean leader "an awesome guy" and his "friend," raising eyebrows in the United States and elsewhere.
Bae was arrested in November 2012 after he traveled from China to the North Korean special economic zone of Rason with a group of businessmen. He was sentenced in April to 15 years of hard labor after being found guilty of committing hostile acts aimed at toppling the North Korean government.

The family of the jailed American have denied the allegations, describing Bae as a tour operator and Christian missionary. But the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the 'hostile acts' allegedly committed by Bae had been proven in court with evidence, although it gave no other details.

Robert King, the special U.S. envoy for North Korean Human Rights and Humanitarian Issues, had been scheduled to visit Pyongyang on Friday and Saturday after receiving an invitation from North Korea to discuss Bae's case from a humanitarian viewpoint. The North rescinded its invitation after accusing Washington of committing a "grave provocation" by allegedly using nuclear-capable bombers during recent drills with South Korea.

In July, Bae's mother Myung Hee criticized the U.S. government for not making enough efforts to help free her 44-year-old son, who has now been detained longer than any previous American prisoner in North Korea. His sister Terri Chung disputed the charges Bae was convicted of, but acknowledged the North Koreans may have considered his religious beliefs to be threatening.

"All I know is that my brother is a good man. He's an idealist, and a man of strong convictions, and he may have been maybe a little overzealous, and maybe made some wrong choices," Chung told CBS News, just weeks after the family had received handwritten letters from Bae in which he begged for their help and said he was going blind, with his health failing due to diabetes and a heart condition.

Myung, who has a weekly call with the U.S. State Department, said she believed the U.S. government was not doing enough to get her son released. "I don't see any action," she told CBS News in July. "I want to ask them, send an envoy or do something. As a mother, I am really getting angry. Really getting angry. What do they do?"

Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who previously visited North Korea and played a role in getting jailed Americans back home, told the news network in July that he had met with the North Korean ambassador at the United Nations (UN) but indicated it would likely take 'out-of-the-box diplomacy' to secure Bae's release.

"[The Ambassador's] message was pretty harsh, it was not good," Richardson said. "It was: Kenneth Bae's there for a while, no high-profile rescue this time. We're not going to go easy on this. He committed a crime. We have no relationship, no dialogue, so that's the way it's going to be."

North Korea and the United States have no diplomatic relations, but Sweden acts as a protecting power. The U.S. State Department previously said officials from the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang had visited Bae several times, but they did not attend the sentencing in April.

(Copyright 2013 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: [email protected].)


-- 2013-09-04

[Scott]

I am not sure who is the desperate one here, Kim, for being friends with Dennis Rodman, or Rodman, for being friends with Kim.

It's probably a good thing that there is some channel of communication with the NK leader.

[sunny6301]

After DOMINATING on the court and becoming the NBA's leading rebounder of all time, he partyied his ass off but managed to drop alcohol years later. So many slam the guy for being an wild child, but let me tell you, Rodman, Jordan, Pippen and the rest of the team made Chicago proud. Now, he is the ONLY American that could maybe even mellow Kim out, if its through basketball, let it be.

[canman]

Why is the media giving this fool oxygen?

[Scott]

An off-topic post has been deleted.

[cup-O-coffee]

Visits, brings home an American prisoner, priceless. This would be quite a story.

Good point. I am quite certain that Dennis is not just hopping on a plane and making a jaunt to see Kim without receiving several visits from agencies that do not exist, as well as ones that do exist.

I simply cannot believe that the face value goes any deeper than the words that are uttered.

Other than that, my isolationist attitude towards <deleted> like Rodman end right there.

[boomerangutang]

It's a time honored tradition. If there's a problem child, you get someone to talk to the child - who the child likes. That way, there may be some progression, but it's not assured.

I admire Rodman for bucking the trend. It would be so easy for him to do what everyone else would do: and that's snub Kim. Could you imagine a Thai (or any other Asian) doing what Rodman is doing? No way, would a Thai venture to step outside the box of what's commonly accepted.

[lostmebike]

What a pair they make!

Can't wait to see some pictures

[webfact]

the picture was taken during the first visit

[lostmebike]

the picture was taken during the first visit

ro.jpg

Just been viewing some pics of them together and what an unlikely pair they are.

That said though, Rodman is, shall we say, a little eccentric and we all know that Kim, shall we say, has some strong views on certain topics so maybe not the unlikely friendship I think after all!

Who would have thought, the cross-dressing Dennis Rodman, Ambassador of Goodwill!

[antfish]

Dennis Rodman seems to be a good American and without hatred for NK.

[uptheos]

It would be an interesting scenario if fat boy suddenly decided he didn't like him and put him in jail. I wonder what the response would be from the US?

[marell]

Why is the media giving this fool oxygen?

If the media denied fools coverage, they'd be out of business.

[CIHUAHUA]

This guy is a STAR !!

I agree, he truly is a dark STAR !!

[dunque]

It's a time honored tradition. If there's a problem child, you get someone to talk to the child - who the child likes. That way, there may be some progression, but it's not assured.

I admire Rodman for bucking the trend. It would be so easy for him to do what everyone else would do: and that's snub Kim. Could you imagine a Thai (or any other Asian) doing what Rodman is doing? No way, would a Thai venture to step outside the box of what's commonly accepted.

Congratulations for getting in a shot at Thais - really thought this topic would prove too difficult, but you managed it.

[khaowong1]

Well, ahhhhhhhh oh never mind.

[tingtongteesood]

Hey, Rodman bashers, before you say bad things about Dennis Rodman going to NK, I suggest you watch the last episode of season 1 of Vice which documents the trip and the reasons for it and at the end you will come away seeing that their visit had a very positive effect. Rodman is trying to use his skills to build bridges with other people, this is the highest achievement of any sport, that it can make enemies into competitors and ultimately gain a mutual respect and even friendship with each other. So let's just wish the guy luck and hope he can have another positive effect this trip. Bon voyage D.R.

[BwindiBoy]

Good luck to him, although almost immediately after he left last time things seem to go even more pear shaped in terms of any "relationship" between eternal war mongerers USA and the ever posturing North Korea. Personally, I believe the "west" gives North Korea an unnecessarily hard time.

[SinglePot]

Good luck to him, although almost immediately after he left last time things seem to go even more pear shaped in terms of any "relationship" between eternal war mongerers USA and the ever posturing North Korea. Personally, I believe the "west" gives North Korea an unnecessarily hard time.

Why?

[F430murci]

Maybe Rodman can help find these 30,000 prisoners that NK and fat boy with bad haircut killed or let starve to death. This is a truly creepy story!

-----

Human rights group: Thousands of N. Korean prisoners 'disappeared' from gulag

Tens of thousands of North Korean prisoners have “disappeared” from an enormous gulag situated in a region where there were known food shortages, prompting fears that they may have starved to death before it closed last year, according to a human rights think tank.

. . .

Activists say that as many as 40 percent of the male, female and child inmates die of malnutrition, while others succumb to disease, sexual violence, torture, abuse by the guards or are worked to death. Some are required to work for up to 16 hours a day in dangerous conditions, often in mines or logging camps.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/06/20353287-human-rights-group-thousands-of-n-korean-prisoners-disappeared-from-gulag

[Jingthing]

Hey, Rodman bashers, before you say bad things about Dennis Rodman going to NK, I suggest you watch the last episode of season 1 of Vice which documents the trip and the reasons for it and at the end you will come away seeing that their visit had a very positive effect. Rodman is trying to use his skills to build bridges with other people, this is the highest achievement of any sport, that it can make enemies into competitors and ultimately gain a mutual respect and even friendship with each other. So let's just wish the guy luck and hope he can have another positive effect this trip. Bon voyage D.R.

I watched it and knowing what I know about the NK dictator I STILL think Rodman is a total tool.

[Jingthing]

Dennis Rodman seems to be a good American and without hatred for NK.

It's not a matter of hating the NK victims. It's a matter of hating that regime.