Dennis Rodman calls on Kim Jong Un to do him ‘a solid’ and release American detainee
Over the weekend, North Korea insisted that it would not use Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for committing "hostile acts" against the government, as a bargaining chip, despite its track record of only releasing American prisoners after visits by luminaries such as Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. Pyongyang ...
Over the weekend, North Korea insisted that it would not use Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for committing "hostile acts" against the government, as a bargaining chip, despite its track record of only releasing American prisoners after visits by luminaries such as Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. Pyongyang "has no plan to invite anyone of the U.S. as regards the issue," a spokesman for the North Korean Foreign Ministry declared.
But how about if Dennis Rodman tweets at Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un and asks his new pal to do him a solid? On Tuesday, the former NBA star, fresh off his wild trip to North Korea, got into the bargaining game on Twitter:
I’m calling on the Supreme Leader of North Korea or as I call him "Kim", to do me a solid and cut Kenneth Bae loose.
— Dennis Rodman (@dennisrodman) May 7, 2013
At least one person anticipated this. In an op-ed for the Seattle Times on Friday, Thanh Tan urged Rodman to call for Bae’s release on Twitter. If that’s what it takes to free the American prisoner, we’ve truly entered a whole new era of diplomacy.
Update: It turns out Rodman’s plea was in response to the Seattle Times op-ed. He followed up on Twitter to note he "decided to help" after reading the article. It’s unclear if Kim Jong Un is also a Seattle Times reader.
In direct response to your article headline, "Ok." Read your story @uscthanhtan, and I decided to help. ow.ly/kNvp3
— Dennis Rodman (@dennisrodman) May 7, 2013
Uri Friedman is deputy managing editor at Foreign Policy. Before joining FP, he reported for the Christian Science Monitor, worked on corporate strategy for Atlantic Media, helped launch the Atlantic Wire, and covered international affairs for the site. A proud native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he studied European history at the University of Pennsylvania and has lived in Barcelona, Spain and Geneva, Switzerland. Twitter: @UriLF
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