My, oh my. Where do you start on a story like this. I guess with a basic question – Is this the image you want traveling overseas to foreign countries, friendly or foe, as a representative of the United States of America? How proud do you stand for our Great Country when this is how we represent ourselves?
The eccentric basketball star, Dennis Rodman and a 10-member team of retired NBA players’ have arrived in North Korea to take part in a controversial basketball game on the birthday of Kim Jong-Un, the country’s young and unpredictable leader. The friendly contest is planned for Wednesday, when Kim is believed to turn 31 and takes place just weeks after North Korea shocked the world by announcing the purge and execution of Kim’s once-powerful uncle. Reportedly, Kim’s uncle and several others were fed to dogs either as a part of the execution or shortly following thereafterwards.
It will be Rodman’s fourth trip to the secretive and isolated nation, part of a project he has described before as “basketball diplomacy.” Yet, in an interview while they waited at the Beijing China airport for their flight to North Korea Rodman stated the main purpose of their trip was for the sport. Rodman said it was not his job to address concerns about the repressive state and lobby for the release of detained U.S. citizen Kenneth Bae. “I’m going to try and interact with him (Kim Jong-Un) on that point of love for sports. He loves sports. I like the guy, and he’s an awesome guy to me,” Rodman said. “One thing is about showing people we can actually get along. Let’s get along as human beings, not politicians.”
During his last trip which took place last month, less than a week after North Korea announced the execution of Kim’s uncle and top aide, Jang Song Thaek, Rodman didn’t get to meet Kim. The international outcry over the killing of Jang prompted Paddy Power, the online betting company that had supported Rodman’s project, to withdraw its association with the event but Rodman has pressed on with the plan. “I’m looking forward to playing and putting on a show in North Korea. This is strictly about the game and for the love of basketball,” Rodman teammate Vin Bader told CNN at the departure gate, where the players posed for photos with fellow travelers.
However, Dennis may be losing the locker room full of NBA old-timers he brought to North Korea with him, especially after a TV appearance that went over like an air ball at the buzzer. Onetime NBA star Charles Smith, a 6 foot, 10 inch tall center who had a stellar career with three teams, said the team of retired players’ planning to play an exhibition game Wednesday against a team of North Koreans has become “dwarfed” by the spectacle that Rodman is. “What we are doing is positive, but it is getting dwarfed by the other circumstances around it,” Smith said.
Smith’s comments came after the TV appearance in which he and other former stars including Vin Baker, Kenny Anderson and Cliff Robinson sat behind Rodman as he tried to defend the trip to the communist dictatorship. The players appeared to be uncomfortable as Rodman who is obviously an erratic NBA Hall of Famer and is known for the rebounding and defense he provided alongside Michael Jordan during his days as a Chicago Bull.
“You have 10 guys here, 10 guys who have left their damn families to help this country in a sports venture,” Rodman shouted at CNN’s Chris Cuomo, when asked about North Korea’s abysmal human rights record. Rodman, who was known in his playing days as “The Worm,” has visited North Korea several times previously and claims to be a good friend of Kim Jong-Un, the North Korean leader who recently had his uncle executed and whose administration is now holding American missionary Kenneth Bae prisoner for allegedly plotting to overthrow the Pyongyang government. On several occaissions, Rodman has referred to Kim as “his life-long friend”.
“Kenneth Bae did one thing,” an angry Rodman shouted, as he waved a cigar at the camera. “If you understand what Kenneth Bae did. Do you understand what he did in this country? No, no, no, you tell me, you tell me. Why is he held captive here in the country, why? … I would love to speak on this.” As Rodman spoke, Smith attempted to calm him down, only to be met with an angry “I got this.” Other players also reportedly expressed some second thoughts about participating in what was initially billed as a diplomatic mission but has drawn scorn in the U.S. and around the world.
Most former NBA players seemed to want no part of the trip. The National Basketball Retired Players Association denounced the basketball exhibition. “Under the right circumstances, basketball can serve as a bridge to bring communities together, but these are not those circumstances,” said NBRPA chairman of the board Otis Birdsong, a four-time NBA All-Star. “Standing alongside our partners at the NBA, we do not condone the basketball activities to be conducted in North Korea this week.”
Smith, who played on the 1988 U.S. Olympic team and later represented the U.S. in the World Games in 1998, said he knew what it was to stand proudly on the world stage. “I felt huge, I felt on top of the world,” Smith told the AP. But I feel the reverse now. I feel a lot of remorse for the guys because we are doing something positive, but it’s a lot bigger than us. we are not naive, we understand why things are being portrayed the way they are. We can’t do anything about that; if we could, we would.
“We’re not skilled in those particular areas,” he added. “Dennis is definitely not skilled in those particular areas.”
The State Department agrees and has tried to discourage the trip. “I know it’s amusing or maybe interesting to talk about Dennis Rodman, but I actually think the focus really should be on the brutality of the North Korean regime he’s going to meet with,” Marie Harf, a State Department spokeswoman, said last month at the time of Rodman’s previous trip.
Personally, as a United States Citizen who has served this great country in the armed forces for 22 years, I’m embarrassed for our country and although I realize there is little the State Department can do to stop this, it makes my heart ache that an American citizen would conduct themselves in this manner while Americans are being held captive and being tortured in the same country Rodman is visiting, not to mention the tens of thousands of Korean’s being treated likewise or worse while being held as political prisioners. Treason is a word that comes to my mind, although there are others I best not include here!
We ask all our readers to offer prayers, not only for Kenneth Bae, but for all freedom loving Americans and Christians being unlawfully detained and tortured by tyrant counties around the world.
Is this what our country has come to?
Is this is the new American Ambassador of today?
For Rodman’s sake – I hope he likes dog’s and gets along well with them! I’ve heard rumors!
To read Pastor Dewey’s previous article on Kenneth Bae, click here: https://fggam.org/let-us-be-in-constant-prayer-kenneth-bea-begins-15-year-prison-sentence-in-north-korea/
To read my previous articles on Rodman’s Korean trips click here: https://fggam.org/will-basketball-man-dennis-rodman-get-to-see-his-friend-for-life-again/