Famed basketball weirdo Dennis Rodman raised many eyebrows
this week as he visited the pariah state of North Korea and palled around with
its notorious leader Kim Jong Un. Apparently a huge basketball and Bulls fan, Kim
received Rodman and a crew of Western documentary makers as well as players for
the Harlem Globetrotters to his reticent country. Rodman and Kim hit it off,
with Rodman drawing fire for calling the brutal dictator “a friend for life”
and stating that he does not believe the Korean leader wants war with the
US. The statements seemed bizarre given
the February 12 North Korean nuclear test, the Feb. 19 threat to bring “final destruction to the
South,” and a video released just this week showing Pres. Obama engulfed in
flames and a US city targeted by a nuclear attack.
Best Budz: Rodman hugs Kim. Photos courtesy of AP.
Yet in East Asia, when dealing with belligerent nations the
US has employed unconventional diplomacy successfully in the past. The now-infamous “ping-pong diplomacy" that was seen as leading to a marked
improvement in US relations with the People’s Republic of China played a role in the visit of Pres. Richard Nixon to the PRC. At the time,
China was in a similar position to North Korea in terms of its nuclear
proliferation, history of poor relations with the US, and position in the
Communist Bloc. While “ping-pong diplomacy” was not the only cause of the
improvement in relations, the US and China made an adroit diplomatic decision
in seizing a window of opportunity in the political climate to arrange a trip
that was well-received by the publics on either side and that opened the door
to further negotiations.
