Written by David Starr   

Dennis Rodman has been a colorful figure over the years, in contrast to his days with the Detroit Pistons' championship teams of the National Basketball Association in the late 1980s. But Rodman's role as an "ambassador of goodwill" to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), or North Korea, has gone beyond colorful. It’s akin to a supernova.

The inevitable condemnation of Rodman's trip to the DPRK to promote basketball diplomacy is par for the course. Remember, we are dealing with another satan here in the form of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and news reports can only talk about brutality and nothing more about this latest Kim who inherited the mantle of leadership from his father, Kim Jong Il.

This isn't exactly a democratic procedure-more like the act of a feudal family dynasty-but the DPRK hasn't exactly had the same historical conditions as a country like the United States, and included within those conditions is the Korean War, with atrocities committed against Koreans not talked about in the U.S. media. But that is also par for the course.

The Rodman quirkiness may be evident once again with this attempt to "bond" with the DPRK, but the gesture points the way to some serious negotiations for cultural exchanges, that is if U.S. leaders can be open-minded about it. After all, it's been part of U.S. foreign policy to support tyrants. Why not show diplomacy to this North Korean "tyrant"?

It's ideological. The DPRK has practiced some degree of socialism despite whatever Stalinist defects and the political practicing of a ruling dynasty. It's socialism that U.S. leaders hate and fear. So, all we hear about North Korea is bad, bad, bad.

There has to be more details known about the DPRK, such as its culture, society, etc. so westerners, particularly U.S. citizens, can get more of an idea about a country they've been trained to think of as the THE enemy.

Dennis Rodman may not be an official ambassador, but the "court jester" brought attention to the idea that diplomacy is not dead where North Korea is concerned.

David Starr writes on various social and political issues, both national and international.

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