Arab Times

Rapper Psy slaps Rodman over slip

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SEOUL, Feb 27, (Agencies): Flamboyant former NBA star Dennis Rodman’s colourful tweets from the heart of Stalinist North Korea appear to have upset South Korea’s best known cultural export, the “Gangnam Style” rapper Psy.

In one of several tweets since he arrived in Pyongyang on Tuesday with members of the Harlem Globetrott­ers, the retired basketball Hall of Famer wondered if he might meet up with Psy during his stay in the North.

“Maybe I’ll run into the Gangnam Style dude while I’m here,” he tweeted.

Whether Rodman was joking or not, Psy clearly decided he needed to be set right on the geo-politics of the divided Korean peninsula, and which side he hailed from.

“@dennisrodm­an I’m from #SOUTH man!!!” the singer retorted on his twitter feed Wednesday.

Psy, who has been on a constant world tour since his Gangnam Style video became the viral hit of 2012, was in his home country on Monday performing at the inaugurati­on of South Korea’s new president Park Geun-Hye.

South and North Korea remain technicall­y at war after the 1950-53 Korean conflict concluded with a ceasefire rather than a peace treaty.

Inter Korean tensions are running particular­ly high at the moment, after the North conducted its third nuclear test earlier this month, triggering global condemnati­on.

While Pyongyang is by far the richest part of North Korea, Rodman is unlikely to see the kind of wealth and designer chic on display in Gangnam.

The North’s economy is 1/40th the size of South Korea’s, according to most independen­t estimates, and is smaller than it was 20 years ago according to the United Nations.

The only bling that Rodman may encounter in North Korea appears to come from third generation of the country’s ruling family.

Jowly 30-year-old dictator Kim Jongun has a penchant for Disney shows and fun-fairs, while his young wife — rumoured to have given birth recently — has been seen sporting a Dior bag. 12 points and 19 rebounds for the Magic (16-41), who hadn’t won on the road since Jan. 12 against the Los Angeles Clippers.

E’Twaun Moore had 12 points and a career-high 10 assists, while Maurice Harkless had 10 points for the Magic.

The Magic won for just the seventh time all season on the road while also snapping a five-game skid overall.

The Sixers lost their sixth straight game, their longest streak in nearly three years.

Suns 84, Timberwolv­es 83, OT In Phoenix, Marcin Gortat hit big shots at the end of regulation and overtime, helping Phoenix end a three-game losing streak.

Gortat hit a runner with 13 seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime and scored on a hard drive with 45 seconds left in the extra period.

Gortat, Wesley Johnson and Markieff Morris had 14 points apiece. Jermaine O’Neal added 10 points and 13 rebounds for the Suns, who ended a four-game home losing streak.

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