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	Rodman worms his way into North Korea North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is trying to exert "flexible diplomacy" to ease the hostility between Pyongyang and Washington through a US basketball delegation's visit, two weeks after the country's third nuclear test drew international condemnation, observers said.
	DPRK, US basketball players conduct joint training Visiting US basketball players had a joint training here on Wednesday with sportsmen of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), marking the first public exchanges since the team set foot on the isolated country.

Schedules:
 ●To set a basketball camp for North Korean children
 ●To engage in community-based games
 ●To film a television documentary

Delegation's voices:
 ●"It’s my first time, I think most of guys are first time here so hopefully everything is OK and hopefully kids have a good time for the game." - Dennis Rodman, retired NBA player
 ●“We use the basketball as a tool to build cultural ties, build bridges among countries, We’re all about happiness and joy and making people smile.” - Buckets Blakes, a Harlem Globetrotter

Meaning:
 ●This visit by the NBA star comes on the heels of the DPRK’s third nuclear test. And some say it’s an opportunity to conduct diplomacy through sports.

Reactions:

●Son Kwang-Ho, vice-chairman of the DPRK Olympic Committee greeted the delegation at the airport. ●"It is only a communication between the two countries' sports fields," a DPRK official said.

●"In terms of this present travel to do basketball with kids, we just don't take a position on this private travel," Patrick Ventrell, the State Department's deputy spokesman, said at a press briefing. ●Some analysts have regarded the visit as "basketball diplomacy," comparing it to the US' "ping-pong diplomacy" with China during the early 1970s. However, the spokesman dismissed such a comparison.

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Chinese media digest:

GT editorial: Rodman's NK visit a win for grass-roots diplomacy
The gradual opening-up of North Korea will help it better communicate with the international community. A cold US-North Korea relationship will do no good for regional security. Communication between the two countries should be the trend, which began from person-to-person diplomacy.

Xinhua:"The visit of American public figures to North Korea shows the country's willingness to open a non-traditional channel for communicating with the US government."

Although Washington disapproves of having direct bilateral talks with Pyongyang, it has not disapproved of the visit, which means the US also has intentions to find a way to improve relations with the North, the paper added.

Sports.qq.com described Dennis Rodman as an "odd choice" for the trip, as the former NBA star has a reputation for bad behavior in the press. However, others speculate that the US is catering to Kim Jong-un's personal interests, as he is an avid NBA fan.

Foreign media comments:

Washington Post: Dennis Rodman’s bizarre trip to North Korea: Is it also unethical?
North Korea’s state ideology is deeply engrained in race and the idea of racial purity. Case in point, one Pyongyang man shouted, when he saw Rodman on the street, “He looks like a monster!” Seeing several very tall African-American men who are also friendly, sophisticated and plainly wealthy might put a big hole in that propaganda.

The Associated Press: Ex-NBA star Dennis Rodman on peace mission to North Korea

Promoting technology and sport are two major policy priorities of Kim Jong-un, who took power in December 2011 following the death of his father, Kim Jong-il.

But the flamboyant Rodman, with his maze of tattoos, nose studs and neon-bleached hair, seems an unlikely diplomat to be sent to a country where male fashion rarely ventures beyond military khaki and facial hair is forbidden.

Weibo Voices:

@钱宏心约堂新浪个人认证: "Ping-pong diplomacy" improved relations with China, the US and Japan. People also imaging that maybe "basketball diplomacy" will do the same. But there are not any real signs that bilateral relations will change due to this goodwill visit.

@Sky_Hawk：For China, this is not good news at all, because if the North swings to the US, China will face unpredictable problems.

Background

China and US: "Ping-pong" diplomacy
	On April 10,1971, the US national table tennis team, along with a group of journalists, became the first US sports delegation to set foot in China since 1949. The Chinese table tennis team made a reciprocal trip to the US in the following April, two months after a visit to Beijing by then US President Richard Nixon. Meaning: The ping pong games marked a thaw in then-strained China-US relations, paving the way for the normalization of their ties.
Iran and US: Soccer diplomacy
	Ever since the hostage crisis in 1979 and the Iran-Iraq war, the relationship between the US and Iran have been shaky at best. However a breakthrough was made during the 1998 World Cup in France, when Iran and the US were scheduled in the same group. When Iran won the match, head coach Jalal Talebi immediately shook hands with the US players. Meaning: This was a special match. The two teams made efforts to bring the two countries closer.
Cuba and US: Baseball diplomacy
	US and Cuba share a passion for baseball, but politics had always kept the two nations from competing against each other. However in 1999, US president Clinton sent the Baltimore Orioles to Cuba to play a friendly game in Havana, for which leader Fidel Castro expressed his support. On game day (March 28), over 50,000 Cuban fans were in attendance. Meaning: Although the Cuban team lost, their performance won respect from the rest of the world, while the game helped in opening communication between Cuba and the US.
North Korea and South Korea: Joint parade
	Athletes from North Korea and South Korea marched under the same unification flag in a delegations' parade at the opening ceremony of both Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 and Athens Olympic Games in 2004. Meaning: The two countries begin to upgrade inter-Korean cooperation, not only in sports, after the united parade.
Greece and Turkey: Olympic Truce
	Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan visited Greece to sign the Olympic Truce, in order to support Greece holding 2004 Athens Olympic Games. Meaning: The two long-time archrivals send a positive message to the whole world with their will to cooperate from now on closer in order to solve differences and write a new chapter in the history of bilateral ties.

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