Dennis Rodman Butthurt About N. Korean Crticism

[Leetonidas]

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/07/world/asia/north-korea-dennis-rodman/index.html


(CNN) -- Basketball star Dennis Rodman defended his controversial visit to North Korea with a team of former NBA players in a combative exchange Tuesday, saying it was a "great idea for the world."

In an exclusive interview with Chris Cuomo of CNN's "New Day," Rodman reacted angrily when pressed on whether the group should have traveled there given recent events in the secretive country.

The trip takes place just weeks after North Korea shocked the world by announcing the purge and execution of Kim's once-powerful uncle. There are also concerns for the welfare of U.S. citizen Kenneth Bae, who's been detained there for more than a year for reasons that are unclear.

The other former NBA players are due to take part in a controversial basketball game on the birthday of Kim Jong Un, the country's young, unpredictable leader. The friendly contest with North Korea's team is planned for Wednesday, when Kim is believed to turn 31.
Cuomo: Rodman isn't on cultural exchange
Rodman to CNN: I don't give a s***
Rodman defiant in odd N. Korea defense

Apparently referring to Kim, Rodman said, "I love my friend. This is my friend." He spoke from the country's capital, Pyongyang.

Asked if he would take the opportunity to ask North Korean leaders about Bae, Rodman suggested the Korean-American had done something wrong but did not say what that was.

Kenneth Bae's mother tells of heartbreak

Growing angry with Cuomo and jabbing his finger toward the camera for emphasis, Rodman said, "Kenneth Bae did one thing. ... If you understand what Kenneth Bae did. Do you understand what he did in this country? No, no, no, you tell me, you tell me. Why is he held captive here in this country, why? ... I would love to speak on this.

"You know, you've got 10 guys here, 10 guys here, they've left their families, they've left their damn families, to help this country, as in a sports venture. That's 10 guys, all these guys here, do anyone understand that? Christmas, New Year's. ...

"I don't give a rat's ass what the hell you think. I'm saying to you, look at these guys here, look at them ... they dared to do one thing, they came here."

Bae, a married father of three, was arrested in November 2012 and sentenced in May to 15 years of hard labor. The North Korean government has said he was found guilty of "hostile acts" and attempts to topple the government.

He's suffered a series of health problems in detention, but pleas for his release have had no effect.

His mother, Myunghee Bae, who was allowed to visit in October, told CNN that her son was a devout Christian who had not understood the system in North Korea. North Korea is officially an atheist state and has punished missionaries in the past.

The White House reacts

At the White House, which has called for North Korea to release Bae, spokesman Jay Carney said Rodman is on a private trip "and our views about Kenneth Bae have not changed."

"I did not see some of the comments that Mr. Rodman made, but I am not going to dignify that outburst with a response," Carney said. "I am simply going to say that we remain gravely concerned about Kenneth Bae's health and continue to urge the DPRK authorities to grant his amnesty and immediate release on humanitarian grounds."

Bae from North Korean prison: Please help me

After Rodman's outburst, fellow player Charles D. Smith tried to calm the discussion, but Rodman carried on, becoming increasingly agitated.
Rodman's North Korea basketball party

"Ain't no shill ... let me do this," he said to Smith, shaking Smith's hand off his arm. Addressing Cuomo, he continued, "Really? Really? I want to tell you one thing. People round the world, around the world, I want to do one thing.

"You're the guy behind the mic right now. We're the guys here doing one thing. We have to go back to America and take the abuse. Do you have to take the abuse that we're going to take? Do you, sir, are you going to take the abuse?

"One day, one day, this door is going to open because these 10 guys here, all of us, Christie, Vin, Dennis, Charles ... I mean everybody here, if we could open the door just a little bit for people to come here and do one thing."

Some of the players visible in the shot behind Rodman looked increasingly uncomfortable as he challenged the CNN anchor.

Smith pointed out that the basketball players made up only a part of a group of about 50 people visiting North Korea, with other Americans among them.

'He's got a great heart'

Smith also sought to defend Rodman, saying the visit was about basketball, not politics.

The players were invited by North Korea, Smith said, and are there as a kind of "cultural exchange" and to "put smiles on people's faces," not to influence the country's leaders.

"We've been doing these games for 3½ years," he said. "Outside of what people know of Dennis, you don't know Dennis. He's got a great heart, his passion is about children and families, that's why we are here.

"We are here because it's about doing great will around the world."

Smith outlined the charity projects he has been involved in worldwide through his sport, including visiting typhoon victims in Asia.

"We're doing what we do, we play basketball and that's what we love to do," Smith said.

"We didn't know it was going to take this kind of negative spin with what we are doing because we're not politicians, we're not ambassadors. We're here to do what we've been doing most of our lives."

Smith apologized for "the storm that has been created by our presence."

He also suggested that Rodman's use of the word "friend" for Kim should not be taken at face value.

Darren Prince, Rodman's agent for 16 years, told CNN on Sunday that Kenny Anderson, Cliff Robinson, Vin Baker, Craig Hodges, Doug Christie, and Smith would play against the North Korean senior national team.

The current trip is Rodman's fourth to the isolated nation, part of a project he has described as "basketball diplomacy."

But the U.S. State Department says that it has nothing to do with Rodman's visits to North Korea and that attention should be focused on the brutality of Kim's regime.

The NBA also distanced itself Tuesday from Rodman.

"The NBA is not involved with Mr. Rodman's North Korea trip and would not participate or support such a venture without the approval of the U.S. State Department," NBA Commissioner David Stern said in a statement released by the league.

"Although sports in many instances can be helpful in bridging cultural divides, this is not one of them."

'Friend for life'

Rodman, 52, struck up an unlikely friendship with Kim when he traveled to North Korea for the first time in February, bringing a team of Harlem Globetrotters for an exhibition game watched by Kim, who is a basketball fan.

Kim later met and dined with the flamboyant basketball star, and Rodman told his host he had "a friend for life," shrugging off international condemnation of the country's human rights record.

However, on his last trip -- which took place last month less than a week after North Korea announced the execution of Kim's uncle and top aide, Jang Song Thaek -- Rodman didn't get to meet Kim.

The international outcry over the killing of Jang prompted Paddy Power, the online betting company that had supported Rodman's project, to withdraw its association with the event.

But Rodman has pressed on with the plan. He met and coached the North Korean team on his previous trip last month.

[AchillesHeel]

Seriously, he's fucking retarded. He can hardly speak.

[jeebus]

He's a world class orator compared to Jameis Winston.

[cd98]

Obviously they are going for the pleasure trip and just happen to use basketball as an excuse.

[CitizenDwayne]

The sad thing is...I think he's being serious.

[Bulaien999]

Some of that north korean pussy???

[JohnnyMax]

Shay Laren is her name, alright..... LOLOLOLOLOL

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v297/Joe_Paco/Babes/1203785924756bt4.gif

The legendary gif at 5:38

http://www.xvideos.com/video4612269/teen_hot_cam_17_-_ixcam.net (http://www.xvideos.com/video4612269/teen_hot_cam_17_-_ixcam.net)

[DMC]

So we're gravely concerned about Bae's health... as if there aren't more pressing issues locally.

[DMC]

The legendary gif at 5:38

http://www.xvideos.com/video4612269/teen_hot_cam_17_-_ixcam.net (http://www.xvideos.com/video4612269/teen_hot_cam_17_-_ixcam.net)

Not really. When you see her getting dressed, you're done and probably don't want to see her at all.

[Rogue]

dude and fat boy are buddies imho, actually fat boy is a fan of him and he kinda grew up watching the Bulls.

[Thebesteva]

The CNN interview sounded like Macho Man


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIO7qRjiQkY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCj99LB0hPs

[Admiral]

Rodman is such a loser. And he always blames other people, never himself. I'm so tired of him.

This is the same guy who said David Robinson was scared of Hakeem Olajuwon in the 1995 playoffs and didn't step up, yet Dennis is the one who showed up for that critical game 5 against the Rockets almost an hour late. This is the same guy who talked about being a warrior, yet he routinely sat on the baseline by himself instead of on the bench with his teammates. This is the same guy who said San Antonio players and coaches criticized him for "just wanting to play basketball," yet he made it all about himself with his hair color, tattoos, and dressing up in women's clothes. He is a grown man, yet despite being 50 years old now, he still acts like a child. I'm past feeling sorry for him. He has had too much time and access to too many resources in his adult life to still be such an immature piece of crap.

And now he wants to be political (even though he said it's not political, of course). Just shut up already, Dennis.

[TDMVPDPOY]

how much is lil kim paying this clown and his groupie?
Clipper Nation must be pissed his rations has decreased to fund this bullshit...

[Rogue]

Rodman and MWP are the same type of guys imho, they may look like bad boys (judging by their appearances and their records), but I think their brutal behaviors in the past were just reflections of their honesty and bluntness, which're rare qualities of people in today's society. I believe Rodman is doing something great over there, with 100% genuineness and good will, doing his best to bring peace and the sense of humanity to the North picklebreaths.

[MultiTroll]

I knew the Korean reports were bad but here is another eyewitness account from an escapee.
Smh.
Gfy again Rodman. Wow.

North Korean defector lifts lid on world's most secret statehttp://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/d/0c/d0c3eb8ca18907492a4b337b5cec5193.jpeg (http://www.reuters.com/) By Emma Batha3 hours ago





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http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/wQpQddzt_LJJX5_K9vNTxg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTIwMDtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2015-07-02T153322Z_1_LYNXNPEB610UN_RTROPTP_2_KOREA-NORTH-DEFECTORS.JPG (http://news.yahoo.com/north-korean-defector-lifts-lid-worlds-most-secret-153322708.html#).
View photo
Lee Hyeon-seo, 33, who came to South Korea in 2008, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Seoul, …






By Emma Batha



LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - As a schoolgirl in North Korea, Hyeonseo Lee was forced to watch executions, denounce her friends for fabricated transgressions and dig tunnels in case of a nuclear attack.
But Lee and her classmates grew up convinced they lived in the "greatest nation on earth" run by a benevolent god-like leader whom they loved in the way many children love Santa Claus.
It wasn't until she left North Korea at the age of 17 that she began to discover the full horror of the government that had fed her propaganda since birth.
In a memoir published in London on Thursday, Lee gives a rare insight into the bizarre and brutal reality of daily life in the world's most secretive state.
"Leaving North Korea is not like leaving any other country. It is more like leaving another universe," she writes in The Girl With Seven Names. "Nearly 70 years after its creation it remains as closed and as cruel as ever."
Lee, now a human rights campaigner living in South Korea, grew up in Hyesan next to the Chinese border. She had a close family with an array of colorful relatives including "Uncle Opium" who smuggled North Korean heroin into China.
All family life took place beneath the obligatory portraits of North Korea's revered founder Kim Il-sung and his son Kim Jong-il which hung in every home. Failure to clean and look after them was a punishable offence.
At supper Lee had to thank "Respected Father Leader Kim Il-sung" for her food before she could pick up her chopsticks.
Her family were well regarded and her father's job in the military meant they were not short of food. But brutality and fear were everywhere.
The faintest hint of political disloyalty was enough to make an entire family - grandparents, parents and children - disappear. "Their house would be roped off; they'd be taken away in a truck at night, and not seen again," she says.
As Lee entered her teens her world was turned upside down when her father was arrested by the secret police. He was later released into a hospital. He had been badly beaten and died soon afterwards. The circumstances remain unclear.
Lee says one of the tragedies of North Korea is that everyone wears a mask, which they let slip at their peril.
"Kindness towards strangers is rare in North Korea. There is a risk to helping others," she writes. "The state made accusers and informers of us all."
Public executions were used as a way to keep everyone in line.
Lee witnessed her first execution at seven. After Kim Il-sung's death in 1994 she recalls a spate of executions of people who had not mourned sufficiently.
FAMINE KILLS ONE MILLION
In the mid-1990s North Korea suffered a famine which killed an estimated one million people.
Lee's first inkling of the crisis came when her mother showed her a letter from a colleague's sister living in a neighboring province.
"By the time you read this the five of us will no longer exist in this world," it read, explaining that the family were lying on the floor waiting to die after not eating for weeks.
Lee, who still believed she lived in the world's most prosperous country, was stunned. A few days later she came across a skeletal young mother lying in the street with a baby in her arms. She was close to death, but no one stopped.
Beggars and vagrant children began to appear in the town and corpses turned up in the river. "The smell of decomposing bodies was everywhere," Lee said, speaking at a book launch at Asia House in London.
In her book she describes taking a train through a "landscape of hell" to visit a relative. She saw people roaming the countryside "like living dead". In the city of Hamhung she recalled people "hallucinating from hunger" and "falling dead in the street".
The government blamed the famine on U.S. sanctions, but she later learnt it had more to do with the collapse of the Soviet Union which had been subsidizing North Korea with food and fuel.
Power cuts became increasingly frequent. At night Lee would stare across the river to the twinkling lights of China and wonder at the contrast with the darkness that shrouded her own city.
Her fascination was fueled by the Chinese satellite TV she watched illegally after blacking out the windows.
One winter night in 1997 she slipped out of the house and crossed the narrow stretch of frozen river by her home with the help of a friendly guard. Lee's defection started off as a prank - she simply wanted to see what China was like.
When her mother finally tracked down her daughter to a distant relative's home in China, her first words on the phone were "Don't come back."
SAFETY IN CHANGE OF NAME
But China was not safe either. Lee lived in fear of being unmasked and deported back to North Korea, where she would have been imprisoned or even killed.
To survive she changed her name numerous times - hence the book's title.
She had many close shaves: she narrowly escaped an arranged marriage, almost became enslaved in a brothel, was kidnapped by a gang of criminals and caught and interrogated by police.
Lee managed to persuade the officers she was Chinese, thanks to her mastery of the language and her quick wits.
After years on the run she reached South Korea where North Koreans are given asylum. But she missed her family desperately.
In a daring mission she returned to the North Korean border to rescue her mother and brother and guide them 2,000 miles through China into Laos and from there to South Korea – a journey beset by disaster from start to finish.
Since settling in South Korea, Lee has become an advocate for North Korean human rights and refugee issues, addressing the United Nations and the U.S. Committee on Human Rights. Her fans include U.S. chat show host Oprah Winfrey.
The name Lee uses today is not the one she was given at birth, nor one of those forced on her by circumstance.
"It is the one I gave myself, once I'd reached freedom," she writes. "Hyeon means sunshine. Seo means good fortune. I chose it so that I would live my life in light and warmth, and not return to the shadow."
(Editing by Tim Pearce; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit www.trust.org)



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View Comments (639)

[Infinite_limit]

I knew the Korean reports were bad but here is another eyewitness account from an escapee.
Smh.
Gfy again Rodman. Wow.

North Korean defector lifts lid on world's most secret state

http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/d/0c/d0c3eb8ca18907492a4b337b5cec5193.jpeg (http://www.reuters.com/) By Emma Batha3 hours ago






(https://www.tumblr.com/share/photo?clickthru=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fnort h-korean-defector-lifts-lid-worlds-most-secret-153322708.html%3Fsoc_src%3Dmediacontentstory%26soc _trk%3Dtu&caption=By%20Emma%20Batha%20%20LONDON%20%28Thomson %20Reuters%20Foundation%29%20-%20As%20a%20schoolgirl%20in%20North%20Korea%2C%20H yeonseo%20Lee%20was%20forced%20to%20watch%20execut ions%2C%20denounce%20her%20friends%20for%20fabrica ted%20transgressions%20and%20dig%20tunnels%20in%20 case%20of%20a%20nuclear%20attack.%20%20It%20wasn%2 7t%20until%20she%20left%20North%20Korea%20at%20the %20age%20of%2017%20that%20she%20began%20to%20disco ver%20the%20full%20horror%20of%20the%20government% 20that%20had%20fed%20her%20propaganda%20since%20bi rth.%20%20In%20a%20memoir%20published%20in%20Londo n%20on%20Thursday%2C%20Lee%20gives%20a%20rare%20in sight%20into%20the%20bizarre%20and%20brutal%20real ity%20of%20daily%20life%20in%20the%20world%27s%20m ost%20secretive%20state.&source=http%3A%2F%2Fl3.yimg.com%2Fbt%2Fapi%2Fres%2 F1.2%2FcpUi0ifcIGm5cCy.3SLzTQ--%2FYXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7aWw9cGxhbmU7cT03NTt3PTYwMA--%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fmedia.zenfs.com%2Fen_us%2FNews%2FR euters%2F2015-07-02T153322Z_1_LYNXNPEB610UN_RTROPTP_2_KOREA-NORTH-DEFECTORS.JPG)

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View photo
Lee Hyeon-seo, 33, who came to South Korea in 2008, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Seoul, …






By Emma Batha



LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - As a schoolgirl in North Korea, Hyeonseo Lee was forced to watch executions, denounce her friends for fabricated transgressions and dig tunnels in case of a nuclear attack.
But Lee and her classmates grew up convinced they lived in the "greatest nation on earth" run by a benevolent god-like leader whom they loved in the way many children love Santa Claus.
It wasn't until she left North Korea at the age of 17 that she began to discover the full horror of the government that had fed her propaganda since birth.
In a memoir published in London on Thursday, Lee gives a rare insight into the bizarre and brutal reality of daily life in the world's most secretive state.
"Leaving North Korea is not like leaving any other country. It is more like leaving another universe," she writes in The Girl With Seven Names. "Nearly 70 years after its creation it remains as closed and as cruel as ever."
Lee, now a human rights campaigner living in South Korea, grew up in Hyesan next to the Chinese border. She had a close family with an array of colorful relatives including "Uncle Opium" who smuggled North Korean heroin into China.
All family life took place beneath the obligatory portraits of North Korea's revered founder Kim Il-sung and his son Kim Jong-il which hung in every home. Failure to clean and look after them was a punishable offence.
At supper Lee had to thank "Respected Father Leader Kim Il-sung" for her food before she could pick up her chopsticks.
Her family were well regarded and her father's job in the military meant they were not short of food. But brutality and fear were everywhere.
The faintest hint of political disloyalty was enough to make an entire family - grandparents, parents and children - disappear. "Their house would be roped off; they'd be taken away in a truck at night, and not seen again," she says.
As Lee entered her teens her world was turned upside down when her father was arrested by the secret police. He was later released into a hospital. He had been badly beaten and died soon afterwards. The circumstances remain unclear.
Lee says one of the tragedies of North Korea is that everyone wears a mask, which they let slip at their peril.
"Kindness towards strangers is rare in North Korea. There is a risk to helping others," she writes. "The state made accusers and informers of us all."
Public executions were used as a way to keep everyone in line.
Lee witnessed her first execution at seven. After Kim Il-sung's death in 1994 she recalls a spate of executions of people who had not mourned sufficiently.
FAMINE KILLS ONE MILLION
In the mid-1990s North Korea suffered a famine which killed an estimated one million people.
Lee's first inkling of the crisis came when her mother showed her a letter from a colleague's sister living in a neighboring province.
"By the time you read this the five of us will no longer exist in this world," it read, explaining that the family were lying on the floor waiting to die after not eating for weeks.
Lee, who still believed she lived in the world's most prosperous country, was stunned. A few days later she came across a skeletal young mother lying in the street with a baby in her arms. She was close to death, but no one stopped.
Beggars and vagrant children began to appear in the town and corpses turned up in the river. "The smell of decomposing bodies was everywhere," Lee said, speaking at a book launch at Asia House in London.
In her book she describes taking a train through a "landscape of hell" to visit a relative. She saw people roaming the countryside "like living dead". In the city of Hamhung she recalled people "hallucinating from hunger" and "falling dead in the street".
The government blamed the famine on U.S. sanctions, but she later learnt it had more to do with the collapse of the Soviet Union which had been subsidizing North Korea with food and fuel.
Power cuts became increasingly frequent. At night Lee would stare across the river to the twinkling lights of China and wonder at the contrast with the darkness that shrouded her own city.
Her fascination was fueled by the Chinese satellite TV she watched illegally after blacking out the windows.
One winter night in 1997 she slipped out of the house and crossed the narrow stretch of frozen river by her home with the help of a friendly guard. Lee's defection started off as a prank - she simply wanted to see what China was like.
When her mother finally tracked down her daughter to a distant relative's home in China, her first words on the phone were "Don't come back."
SAFETY IN CHANGE OF NAME
But China was not safe either. Lee lived in fear of being unmasked and deported back to North Korea, where she would have been imprisoned or even killed.
To survive she changed her name numerous times - hence the book's title.
She had many close shaves: she narrowly escaped an arranged marriage, almost became enslaved in a brothel, was kidnapped by a gang of criminals and caught and interrogated by police.
Lee managed to persuade the officers she was Chinese, thanks to her mastery of the language and her quick wits.
After years on the run she reached South Korea where North Koreans are given asylum. But she missed her family desperately.
In a daring mission she returned to the North Korean border to rescue her mother and brother and guide them 2,000 miles through China into Laos and from there to South Korea – a journey beset by disaster from start to finish.
Since settling in South Korea, Lee has become an advocate for North Korean human rights and refugee issues, addressing the United Nations and the U.S. Committee on Human Rights. Her fans include U.S. chat show host Oprah Winfrey.
The name Lee uses today is not the one she was given at birth, nor one of those forced on her by circumstance.
"It is the one I gave myself, once I'd reached freedom," she writes. "Hyeon means sunshine. Seo means good fortune. I chose it so that I would live my life in light and warmth, and not return to the shadow."
(Editing by Tim Pearce; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit www.trust.org (http://www.trust.org))



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If the USA actually gave a shit they would have dropped the economic sanctions.

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^Bend over. I'll drop some fuckin' economic sanctions.