The Dictator: Kim Jong-un, Tumblr celebrity The Celebrity: Dennis Rodman, author of Bad As I Wanna Be The Friendship: The first Rodman/Jong-un summit (as history shall surely record it) took place in September 2013, when the former Chicago Bull led a heavyweight delegation of three Harlem Globetrotters to Pyongyang for a series of exhibition matches. He declared Kim his best friend and sang Happy Birthday to him in semi-coherent fashion, but the strangest thing of all is that this should have taken no-one by surprise. This friendship isnt as unusual as it might seem if youre familiar with the sporting tastes of the average North Korean. Basketball is massively popular there, and as a student in various Swiss finishing schools, Kim Jong-un was an avid player with a superfans knowledge of the NBA. Theres been talk that Rodman might be engaging in basketball diplomacy on behalf of the US government, although given that hes completely forgotten to raise the plight of imprisoned Korean-American Kenneth Bae to his new best pal, it seems unlikely. On the other hand, he has racked up the first headlines since his 90s heyday, when all he needed to do to cause a stir was simply turn up at his book launch wearing a wedding dress. That might have something to do with it. Or maybe the real truth is that Rodman sees something of himself in Kim Jong-un. Theyre both bad boys with daddy issues, shunned by the rest of polite society. The only real difference between them is that Rodman hasnt vowed to launch a nuclear hellstorm on Los Angeles. Yet.