Former NBA star Rodman ready to play his part in Trump-Kim talks
younger Kim get along because they both love sports and music. “He loves Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra,” Volo said of Kim. “Dennis loves every type of music, and I think that’s what really brought them together.”
Rodman first visited the isolated state in early 2013 on a trip with members of the Harlem Globetrotters. He returned two more times that year, once in September — when he said he even had the chance to hold Kim’s baby daughter — and again in December, when he put together a team of North Korean basketball players for an exhibition game for Kim’s birthday. The game happened in January 2014 and featured North Koreans and former NBA players.
But that trip got a little awkward — not only when footage emerged of Rodman singing to Kim, but also when Rodman went on CNN and ranted at host Chris Cuomo, suggesting that American missionary Kenneth Bae, who was in prison in North Korea, might deserve to be there. “Do you understand what he did in this country?” Rodman asked. “No, no, no, you tell me, you tell me. Why is he held captive here in this country, why?” Rodman later apologised for the remarks and said in a statement to the
that he had been drinking and feared his “dreams of basketball diplomacy was quickly falling apart”. Bae ended up being released later that year.
The basketball star didn’t return to North Korea until last year, when he travelled to Pyongyang on a trip sponsored by PotCoin, an online currency for cannabis. On that trip, Rodman gave Kim a copy of Trump’s first book, His visit coincided with North Korea releasing Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old college student who was arrested in Pyongyang in 2016 on charges of trying to steal a propaganda banner. Warmbier was medically evacuated from North Korea and returned home with severe brain damage. He died a few days later.