Dennis Rodman’s Basketball Diplomacy

“There is nobody at the CIA who can tell you more personally about Kim Jong Un than Dennis Rodman, and that in itself is scary,” said Col. Steve Ganyard, USMC (Ret.), a former deputy assistant secretary of state and ABC News consultant.

It’s also rather embarrassing, from a diplomatic perspective.

There’s been little to no headway in US/North Korea relations since the Korean War of the 1950s, a war that only ended in an armistice with no formal peace treaty. Maybe it’s time we tried a little out-of-the-box diplomacy by allowing Rodman to get our foot in the door. The former Chicago Bulls star was welcomed by North Korea’s young leader, Kim Jong Un, along with an itinerary of ice-skating, an aquarium visit, and a courtside seat with Kim at a basketball game between the Harlem Globetrotters and North Korean players.

While Rodman’s descriptions of Kim sound pandering and almost insanely apologetic – especially when considering that Kim is often regarded as one of the world’s most oppressive leaders, presiding over prison camps and allowing millions of his own people to starve – should we really be quick to dismiss Rodman’s accomplishment of being the first American to publicly meet with Kim? Maybe it’s time American diplomats fight fire with fire (read: crazy with crazy).

China’s ping-pong diplomacy of the early-1970s comes to mind, a sports invitational that eventually led to the president himself being able to visit the totalitarian-communist leaders on friendly terms.

“[Kim] loves basketball. And I said the same thing, I said, ‘Obama loves basketball.’ Let’s start there,” Rodman said.

Rodman also said that Kim Jong Un wanted the president “to do one thing: to call him”.

Rodman told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos in an interview that there are more trips to North Korea in his future. Stephanopoulos then smugly offered Rodman the latest report from the Human Rights Watch, which outlines North Korea’s “dire human rights record” under Kim, to share with him during his next visit. But as Rodman’s accomplishments might tell us, is this really the way to handle a leader who continues to develop a nuclear arms and missile program, which he says is aimed at the U.S.?