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Showing posts from April, 2013

dennis rodman's diplomatic visit to north korea

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okay, so i know this is pretty late and the political climate in the korean peninsula is pretty tense right now, but i remember this thing. early march this year, i learned from the new yorker that dennis rodman had visited north korea and was received very well by north korean supreme leader kim jong-un. it was a quite a colorful news item during a time that didn't really see any particularly juicy (or gossipy) items in a while (in my view). it was also somewhat mystifying, discombobulating, and fascinating all at the same time because north korea is known as something of a reclusive, passive-aggressive, belligerent regime and its leader, kim jong-un, is its poster child, while dennis rodman, on the other hand, a name known to even non-basketball fans (like me, maybe?), was a high-profile NBA star. what was he doing vising north korea and rubbing elbows with kim jong-un? kind of weird and freaky, don't you think, and quite likely to grab headlines as might have been intend