DPRK state media reported on 28 February (Thursday) that Kim Jong Un (Kim Cho’ng-u’n) watched a basketball with former NBA player and Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman. The game KJU’s last reported public appearance was his attendance at a commemorative photo session with personnel involved in the 12 February 2013 nuclear test. The game took place between two teams consisting of four members of the Harlem Globetrotters and 12 players from the DPRK and ended in a tie (110-110). According to the Associated Press and VICE Media during the game KJU talked with Rodman in English, but KJU occasionally spoke to Rodman in Korean using an interpreter. According to Xinhua, after the game, Rodman remarked “although relations between the two countries are regrettable, personally I am a friend of Marshal Kim Jong Un and the DPRK people.” Xinhua reported that “college students and Pyongyang citizens, as well as foreign diplomats and representatives from international organizations were invited to watch the game” and that “DPRK cheerleaders wearing traditional clothes and miniskirts performed during the intermission of the game. After the game, a DPRK university presented a banner to the Harlem Globetrotters.” After the game, Dennis Rodman delivered a speech to the crowd.
Prior to the game Rodman and members of the basketball delegation attended a banquet in the central party complex, hosted by Kim Jong Un. According to one the US attendees at the banquet, they dined on a 10-course meal, including sushi and turkey (a fairly common menu when the DPRK elite host receptions for major international visitors and delegations). One US attendee at the banquet tweeted “Um…so Kim Jong Un just got the whole…crew wasted, no really that happened.”
This posting will be updated, however VICE provided several images of the game and the KJU-Rodman interaction.
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