As a basketball fan, I was shocked as well as extremely
confused (as I’m sure many of you were) when I heard that Dennis Rodman had
become good friends with Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea. It
seems absurd that an admired basketball superstar would form a relationship
with a notoriously ruthless dictator.
Here is an article from CNN.com that discusses
the issue.
In the article, the author explains
that during the latest of the four trips that Rodman has taken to North Korea
in the past year, the basketball star apparently sang “happy birthday” to Kim
Jong Un. Rodman also convinced a few of his former NBA buddies to come along and
join him in playing a basketball game in honor of Kim Jong Un’s birthday.
I don’t have a problem with Rodman
making a fool of himself. What I DO have an issue with is the negative effect
that Rodman’s visit has on a much bigger level, of international importance. Kim
Jong Un is the leader of a totalitarian state that has a long history of human
rights abuses. In addition to the
suffering they cause their own people, the North Korean leadership claims to
have missiles capable of hitting the United States.
Rodman’s friendly attitude, describing Kim Jong Un as a “very good
guy,” directly interferes with our government’s foreign policy that attempts to
keep this rogue country in check.
According to Max Fisher of the
Washington Post, the Rodman visit also provides free propaganda for Kim Jong
Un, “unintentionally bestow[ing] legitimacy on the Kim regime which would
portray [Rodman’s] trip as a public tribute.”
Below is a photo of Rodman bowing to the North Korean leader. Because Rodman is an admired American sports
star, his interactions with Kim Jong Un give the impression that the leader is
a man to be respected and admired. This
endorsement by a famous American minimizes the perceived threat that Kim Jong
Un poses to not only his own people, but to the rest of the world.
Kim Jong Un showed his ruthlessness recently when he had
about 80 of his citizens murdered recently for having possession of the Bible
or a television (here is an article about the
issue). In addition, Kim Jong Un is currently holding an innocent American
citizen, Kenneth Bae, prisoner and sentencing him to 15 years.
When asked about this sentence, Rodman actually defended the
North Korean leader’s actions by implying that Bae was guilty of crimes against
North Korea. Rather than attempting to help out his fellow American, Dennis
decided to side with one of the world’s most dangerous and cruel men.
I can barely believe this!! To me it is outrageous that an American citizen would dare to defend and be friendly to a man who is a terrible tyrant. Kim Jong Un is the leader of a country with starving, deprived, and abused people. To me, this relates to the Perilous Times presentations we are giving right now because of the enemy relations the U.S. has with North Korea. I personally think that anyone who could so blatanly betray the U.S. by standing up for the arrest of Kenneth Bae should be arrested. Dennis Rodman has no business entering North Korea and he should be punished for his actions. However, the reality is, people will always be ignorant and take sides with the enemy, afterall, Henry Ford and other important figures of the mid-20th century were friends with members of the Nazi regime.
ReplyDeleteJosh - I had no idea that Ford was friends with members of the Nazi regime! Thats actually awful! Its one thing for someone like Dennis Rodman to befriend our nation's enemy, but Ford had much more power than Rodman does, so the fact that he befriended Nazi party members is much scarier to me. Dont get me wrong, what Rodman did was awful, and it is definitely going to have consequences, but I think that the Ford thing is a bigger deal just because he had so much of an influence on the nations economy. I agree with you that there should be a punishment for betraying the US like Rodman did. Also, great reference to the presentations.
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