Ping pong diplomacy was a popular term in relations with the United States and China years ago and now another term could be added in for North Korea, as former Chicago Bulls star Dennis Rodman took a trip to the Communist nation this week.
According to the Associated Press, Rodman met with North Korea's Kim Jong Un on Thursday, his third day in North Korea, taking in Pyongyang and telling the leader, who is a known basketball and Chicago Bulls fan, "you have a friend for life," a delegation spokesman said.
The report said that Rodman sat with Kim at a basketball exhibition in the city and that the two chatted with one another as players from North Korea and the United States played on mixed teams, Alex Detrick, a spokesman for the New York-based VICE media company, told The Associated Press.
Rodman is in North Korea with VICE making a documentary for HBO and Kim told Rodman that he hoped his visit could help relations between the two nations. Rodman is the most well-known American to meet with the leader since he took power in December of 2011 and Kim is known as a big fan of Rodman when he was playing with the Bulls.
Tension has come up between the two nations since North Korea administered a nuclear test two weeks ago despite the US asking the nation to drop its "hostile" policies.
Rodman entered the country on Monday with three members of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, VICE correspondent Ryan Duffy and a VICE production crew to shoot the film for an HBO series. The game on Thursday that Rodman watched ended 110-110, with Americans playing alongside North Korean players.
Rodman gave a speech before the people at the game, saying "You have a friend for life," Detrick said. Later, Kim gave the group drinks and liquor, according to VICE TV producer Jason Mojica.
"Um ... so Kim Jong Un just got the (hash)VICEonHBO crew wasted ... no really, that happened," Mojica wrote on his Twitter feed from Pyongyang.
