BEIJING – Dennis Rodman sang Happy Birthday to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un on Wednesday before leading a team of former NBA stars for a game of “basketball diplomacy” that has been criticized by rights groups.
Rodman took on a North Korean team in the capital Pyongyang in an exhibition game that excited a capacity crowd of around 14,000 at the Pyongyang Indoor Stadium.
Kim watched the game from a special seating area along with his wife and other senior officials and their wives.
Rodman sang Happy Birthday before the start of the game in which the North Korean team scored 47 points to 39 for the Americans before the teams were mixed for the second half. Rodman played in the first half and then sat next to Kim during the second half.
Rodman, 52, a former star for the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons, insists he is trying to forge a bridge between the West and his “good friend” Kim. But Amnesty International, the NBA and the family of an American missionary jailed in North Korea have accused him of giving an image boost to a despot whose regime has starved millions of its people, imprisoned tens of thousands of citizens and
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