Dennis Rodman has led an auditorium of North Koreans in singing 'Happy Birthday' to Kim Jong-Un.
Rodman brought a team of retired NBA stars to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, to celebrate the dictator's birthday.
"It started out as surreal, then people joined in and it sort of faded a bit, but it seemed pretty heartfelt from Rodman's side," said Simon Cockerell, a tour guide who watched the game. "It was unexpected, and probably unplanned. Kim Jong-Un appeared to smile, but he didn't appear to expect it."
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The North Korean team beat the Rodman All-Stars 47-39 (not a big surprise, both because of the age of Rodman's team and because of their unwillingness to face a firing squad). After one half of play, the teams mixed players from both countries, with the White team defeating the Green team 63-54.
Rodman's trip has been widely panned because of bizarre comments he made in a US television interview about Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American citizen who has been sentenced to 15 years' hard labour by the North Korean government for unclear reasons. Rodman seemed to suggest this was Bae's own fault, but refused to elaborate.
When asked about Rodman's comments, White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters: "I'm not going to dignify that outburst with a response... I'm simply going to say that we remain gravely concerned about Kenneth Bae's health, and continue to urge DPRK authorities to grant his amnesty and immediate release on humanitarian grounds."
(Via ABC)
