Did you know that the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong Un, is a diehard basketball fan who also loves the Chicago Bulls? This was one reason why he developed a soft corner for Dennis Rodman and went from superfan to friend. In early 2013, Rodman shocked the world by accepting, the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un’s invitation to visit Pyongyang.
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It was reported that Rodman traveled with a few players from the Harlem Globetrotters and a few journalists from Vice to meet his friend, Kim. The Hall of Famer became an informal diplomat of sorts as the rest of the world saw him sitting next to Kim and having a great time in the pictures that surfaced.
In one picture, Rodman was spotted hugging Kim and was criticized by Human Rights activists for telling him, “You have a friend for life.” During a conversation with CBS in 2013, Rodman stated that all his friend is looking for is to achieve world peace.
“He doesn’t want to fight… You hear a lot of things about nuclear war, we’re going to do this, we’re going to do that. I don’t think he really wants to do that. He wants to talk Obama really, really bad.”
Rodman claimed that Kim was just carrying on the family’s legacy and there was nothing more to his leadership regime in North Korea.
“I think he’s just carrying on tradition from his father and his grandfather. If you saw me and him together in North Korea, he was pretty much laughing and smiling a lot… He really doesn’t want war… I think he has to play that role. If anything does actually happen, I guess I’m a failure. I’m a liar… He’s not a mad man, he’s not an evil guy.”
The Worm has had a reputation attached to his name due to his eccentric personality. It has followed him ever since he gained fame as an NBA athlete. However, his friendship with the North Korean leader was surprising, even for his most avid fans.
Kim, who was a fan of the of the Bulls, invited the team to visit him. But ‘The Worm’ who was at the peak of his career playing alongside Michael Jordan, was the only one to respond and eventually landed in North Korea. Since then, he has been a regular visitor there.
During his visit in 2014, Rodman even sang the ‘Happy Birthday’ song for his friend and was seen bowing in front of him. In 2017, ‘The Worm’ handed North Korea’s sports minister a copy of Donald Trump’s 1987 book, “The Art of the Deal” as a gift to Kim. All these acts have led to Rodman being criticized in the media, but like a good friend, the former Bulls legend publicly defended Kim.
