Dennis Rodman asks KJU to free Kenneth Bae

Dennis Rodman hugs Kim Jong-un, while trying to avoid his solid.

Dennis Rodman, Kim Jong-un's new BFF, is appealing to the North Korean leader to free Korean-American Kenneth Bae from prison.

I'm guessing Mr. Rodman doesn't realize how this works: High-profile types are supposed to visit North Korea while they're trying to free the latest American resident of the Pyongyang Palazzo, not before.

UPDATE:
The Korean of Ask A Korean is in a Washington Post blog post offering up the best colloquial translation for "do me a solid" to discern how Kim Jong-un might read this tweet: 내 얼굴을 봐서 케네스 배를 석방해달라.

Given that The Young General attended the English-language Gümligen "International School" in Switzerland for a number of years and has a love of basketball culture and a passing interesting in hip-hop, I'm guessing he doesn't need a translation of "do me a solid."

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Bae sentenced to 15 years of hard labor

In a follow-up to an earlier post, a Korean-American tour operator who was arrested in North Korea for trying to depose the state has been sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. From BBC:

North Korea says it has sentenced a US citizen to 15 years of hard labour.

The announcement, from state news agency KCNA, said Pae Jun-ho, known in the US as Kenneth Bae, was tried on 30 April.

He was held last year after entering North Korea as a tourist. Pyongyang said he was accused of anti-government crimes.

The move comes amid high tensions between North Korea and the US, after Pyongyang's third nuclear test.

North Korean media said last week that Mr Pae had admitted charges of crimes against North Korea, including attempting to overthrow the government.

"The Supreme Court sentenced him to 15 years of compulsory labour for this crime," KCNA said.

Mr Pae, 44, was arrested in November as he entered the northeastern port city of Rason, a special economic zone near North Korea's border with China.

He is believed to be a tour operator of Korean descent. The Associated Press news agency also reports that he is described by friends as a devout Christian.

On the face of it, North Korea's decision to sentence a US citizen to 15 years' hard labour seems to be a direct challenge to Washington: another twist in the cycle of actions and rhetoric that have helped keep relations so tense over the past two months.

But Mr Pae is not the first American citizen to be arrested or tried in North Korea. Over the past few years, Pyongyang has detained two American journalists, a businessman, an English teacher and an activist.

Some were tried and sentenced to hard labour like Mr Pae. But all were released following negotiations - some of which involved unofficial visits by high-profile Americans like former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.

So, while it may seem like another irritant to relations with Washington, the announcement of Mr Pae's conviction might actually be an attempt to draw US negotiators - even unofficial ones - to Pyongyang.

That would give North Korea a domestic propaganda victory, and it might also pave the way for more broader, more official, talks on the wider issues.

At the moment, North Korea is being offered talks on American terms - which include a commitment to dismantle its nuclear weapons programme. This is one way the regime can get a high-profile visitor to Pyongyang without any conditions at all.

South Korean activists say Mr Pae may have been arrested for taking photos of starving children in North Korea.

"We call on the DPRK [North Korea] to release Kenneth Bae immediately on humanitarian grounds," US State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said on Monday.

Diplomats from Sweden, which represents the US in North Korea in the absence of diplomatic ties, had been providing counsel to Mr Pae, reports said. The US State Department was working with the Swedish embassy to confirm the report of the sentencing, AP reported.

It's a sure bet that he probably will not serve anywhere near that kind of sentence, and it's only a matter of figuring out what kind of concessions are made so that he might be released.

A concession can be an actual offer of food aid or even money, or just a visit by high-profile American politico, such as former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson or former Pres. Bill Clinton or former Pres. Jimmy Carter. They have all gone in the past to fish out other American citizens of ended up in North Korean custody, but I suppose somebody like former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton might also do.

Heck, somebody from the NBA might also suffice.

The timing — coinciding with all this tension that's occurred — is no coincidence. He was held for quite a while and then put on trial at just the right time. Perhaps this upping of the ante was intended to get a high-profile visit so that Pyongyang could save face and defuse the tension at the same time. We'll have to see.

So for now I'm not too terribly worried about Mr Bae. He's going to spend a little time at the Pyongyang Palazzo, but he will probably be home in time for the Fourth of July.

Please note that I have not yet referred to him as a Stupogant, because I'm not yet certain that his entry into North Korea and subsequent arrest really were based on something foolish.

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Stewart skewers Dennis Rodman on North Korea visit

In his characteristic sarcastic style, Jon Stewart last night lampooned Dennis "The Worm" Rodman for being a clueless tool of Kim Jong-un, while simultaneously mocking former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for being a clueless rich guy who doesn't understand why he lost the election.

Oh, and Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez is dead, a fact that would have given former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il pause and a chance to reflect on his own mortality, were he not already dead for nearly a year a half.

Nevertheless, Dear Leader, a belated happy birthday.

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KJU + DR = BFFs

I guess if someone accused North Korean leader Kim Jong-un of being anti-US, he can now say, "Of course not; some of my best friends are American."

From NPR:

Add this to the controversial things that former NBA star Dennis Rodman has done over the years:

"You have a friend for life," he told North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Thursday. Word of his comments comes from the VICE media production company that sent Rodman and members of the Harlem Globetrotters to the Stalinist state as part of an upcoming HBO series that will explore "news, culture and current events from all around the world."

Rodman, known as "The Worm," showed up with a small group of Americans in Pyongyang earlier this week.

According to VICE and China's Xinhua News agency, Rodman and the "supreme leader" sat together Thursday to watch a basketball game involving North Korea's top players and the three Globetrotters who are with Rodman on the visit. The Americans — along with VICE correspondent Ryan Duffy — were divided between the two sides. The game reportedly ended in a 110-110 tie.

Xinhua reports Rodman said after the game that "although relations between the two countries are regrettable, personally I am a friend of Marshal Kim Jong Un and the DPRK people."

That was quite diplomatic of the Harlem Globetrotters to engineer a tie game. (And smart, too, which means they might have read about Euna Lee and Laura Ling's time in the Pyongyang Palazzo.)

So forget the picture at this post, the real picture shows the Young General having a good old time with his new buddy. And seriously, I just find it hard to believe that this is not a sign that there is some potential for Kim Jong-un to one day say, "Screw this!" and give up on the whole pariah state thing so he can have a Coke™ and a smile.

Color me cautiously optimistic.

But lest this public relations coup make us forget how far the North really has to go, lest we forget that Tommy Boy is head (nominal or actual) of a very brutal regime, the NPR piece goes on to explain precisely that, by citing Human Rights Watch:

"Arbitrary arrest, detention, lack of due process, and torture and ill-treatment of detainees remain serious and pervasive problems. North Korea also practices collective punishment for various anti-state offenses, for which it enslaves hundreds of thousands of citizens in prison camps, including children. The government periodically publicly executes citizens for stealing state property, hoarding food, and other 'anti-socialist' crimes, and maintains policies that have continually subjected North Koreans to food shortages and famine."

Yep. And you can get killed for passing out Bibles.

Major buzzkill. Let's hope KJU or his Chinese benefactors try to do something about it.

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Dennis Rodman go on basketball date

You'll have to forgive me, but because of the picture that they included – which I have posted above – I thought that this NK post was actually a joke. Sort of like they were trying to be The Onion only a more unfunny.

(It's very hard to write satire about North Korea, largely because the things that actually happen there are often so much stranger than what normally passes for satire. And frankly, lately The Onion is having trouble being Onionesque themselves; I'm thinking specifically of them having referred to a nine-year-old Oscar-nominated actress as a "C-U-next-Tuesday" so they could jump into the shock humor genre.)

Anyway, if the Xinhua story that it cites is true, that is a rather significant event, if the North Korean leader is allowing himself to be seen in public with an American figure who is not a politician, whether that's a boyhood hero or not. I sometimes suspect that the Swiss-educated Kim Jong-fun is trying to see where he can break free from his father's pattern wherever possible.

And that's a good thing.

UPDATE:
Here's the real picture of the two at the event, after which Mr Rodman said Kim Jong-un had in him a friend for life.

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Dennis Rodman bringing Nonggu Diplomacy to Pyongyang

Yep, you read that right. Dennis "The Worm" Rodman is going to join the Harlem Globetrotters on a trip to North Korea for some reality show, where they're going to try to pry open the country and run a basketball camp.

From Voice of America:

Former U.S. basketball superstar Dennis Rodman has traveled to North Korea to help film a television show and engage in an unlikely cultural exchange in the Stalinist country.

Rodman and several members of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team also plan to hold a series of basketball camps for North Korean children during the weeklong visit.

After landing in Pyongyang on Tuesday, the eccentric Rodman said he was just looking forward to "having some fun" in the notoriously closed state.

"It's my first time [to visit North Korea]. I think it's most of these guys' first time. So hopefully everything will be okay, and I hope the kids have a good time for the game," Rodman told reporters.

The U.S.-based Vice media group, which is leading the group, billed the trip as a "basketball diplomacy" mission. It said in a press release the visit will include activities aimed at encouraging "openness and better relations with the outside world."

Vice said the mission may also include a "top-level scrimmage" to be attended by Kim Jong Un, the young North Korean leader who took power following the death of his father in 2011. The event could not be confirmed.

I agree we need a little more peresnorka, but if the North Koreans weren't already afraid of Black people, Dennis Rodman isn't exactly the best ambassador.

But maybe I underestimate the guy and his ability to keep it together. If you're worried that the former bad boy of the NBA can't behave in a conservative and isolated land known for its racial homogeneity, I remind you that he did live in Newport Beach.

Snark aside, re-read that last link and try not being a tad concerned that Rodman's idea of "having some fun" might not jive with octogenarian North Korean nomenklatura's idea of "having some fun." They might kidnap him just on principle!

Anyway, although I support "Plan B" type efforts to limit North Korea's financial transactions until they end their nuclear program and stop abusing their people or attacking the South, I do agree that cultural exchanges are an effective way to erode mutual distrust and animosity, which can lead to compromise and good will in the future. Kushibo is an optimistic pessimist.

UPDATE:
ROK Drop also featured this story. I expect One Free Korea will be unable to resist as well. So far, The Marmot's Hole hasn't covered it, because The Marmot is too busy focusing on the weirdly cute Bae Doona.

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