The odd relationship between Dennis Rodman and Kim Jong Un explained

Former basketball star will be in Singapore
when the North Korea leader meets President Trump

In Depth

“A lot of times in situations that involve complex diplomacy,
countries like to identify ambassadors of goodwill, and whether you
agree with it or not, Dennis Rodman fits the bill,” a source close
to the former basketball player told The New York Post.

Sources say Rodman “could even play some sort of role in the
negotiations”, the newspaper adds.

Rodman has made at least five trips to visit Kim in recent
years, and is also close to Trump after appearing alongside the
then-future president on TV reality show Celebrity
Apprentice.

Last August, Rodman said the exchange of fiery rhetoric of
nuclear brinkmanship between Trump and Kim was “more like two
big kids deciding who’s the toughest”.

“It says a lot about the world that the only man on good terms
with both Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un is a former basketball
player,” says The Guardian’s Hunter Felt.

But Rodman “seems to have a completely different conception of
[North Korea] than pretty much all other Americans,” a tourist who
met during a visit to North Korea told BuzzFeed.

So how did Rodman’s unlikely friendship with the North Korean
dictator start and what role might the US sport star play in
Singapore?

How did Rodman and Kim’s friendship begin?

Rodman first visited North Korea in 2013, along with a group of
journalists, after being invited there by Kim. The North Korean
leader grew up following Rodman’s team, the Chicago Bulls, in the
1990s, so when Vice Media led what was dubbed
a “basketball diplomacy” mission five years
ago, “a fruitful correspondence was almost inevitable”, says the
BBC’s Michael Madden.

Rodman touched down in North Korea with the Harlem
Globetrotters, who then played a North Korean selection while
Rodman and the North Korean leader watched from a gallery.

The first trip was particularly notable as “one of the only
times where you saw large numbers of members of the North Korean
elite in their 20s and 30s”, says Madden. It was a rare and sure
sign that a new generation of North Korea’s leadership was present
and alert.

Their presence at the Globetrotters game was about “associating
the younger elites with this most modern of Korean preferences”, he
adds.

Since then Rodman has returned to North Korea to take part in
further so-called basketball diplomacy, often bringing the dictator
gifts or memorabilia.

What do they talk about?

Appearing on US chat show The Late Show with Stephen
Colbert,  Rodman insisted trust was the secret behind his
relationship with Kim.

Rodman said: “Well, for some reason, he likes me. I’m
being honest, he likes me. I think the fact that people don’t
really understand the fact if you actually go over there and meet
him – obviously, you don’t see him talk on TV – but for some
reason, he trusts me. And when I went over there, the first thing
he said to me, he said, ‘Mr Rodman, we just want to know, can we
trust you?’ I said, ‘Absolutely.’”

Rodman told Colbert that he and the national leader don’t talk
about politics.

Instead, Rodman said, he hopes to merely open the door for
political discourse,with Kim telling him that North Korea doesn’t
want war.

“I’m close enough to him to the fact that he can discuss
anything with me. But the deal is I don’t discuss politics, because
that’s not my job. My job is to be a human being, to try and
connect us with him,” said Rodman.

Will Rodman play a part in the US-North Korea summit?

If the sides come to an agreement about a kind of cultural
exchange, Rodman “could be a key part of that somehow”, says
Madden.

More importantly, “if he does turn up you shouldn’t be
surprised, because both Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un operate
by trusting personal relationships”, Madden adds.

But any hopes of a thawing of relations thanks to Rodman may
prove misguided. A source with inside knowledge of Rodman’s
previous trips told Time magazine that they were principally “one
long party of boozing”.