Ex basketball star Rodman sings for Kim Jong-un

Former US basketball star Dennis Rodman led an auditorium of North Koreans in singing Happy Birthday to their leader yesterday.

The day before he sparked controversy by appearing to suggest a Korean-American was to blame for his captivity in North Korea.

Rodman brought a team of fellow former National Basketball Association stars to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, to mark the birthday of leader Kim Jong-un with an exhibition game. The birthday is believed to have been yesterday though that has not been confirmed.

“It started out as surreal, then people joined in and it sort of faded a bit, but it seemed pretty heartfelt from Rodman’s side,” Simon Cockerell, a tour guide who watched the game in Pyongyang, said of Rodman’s birthday singing.

“It was unexpected, and probably unplanned,” he said. “Kim Jong-un appeared to smile, but he didn’t appear to expect it.”

Cockerell, whose company Koryo Tours took a group of tourists to the game, said the audience had stood and cheered Kim for up to six minutes when he appeared with his wife.

“Dennis Rodman gave a charmingly shambolic speech where he thanked Kim Jong-un and his wife for showing up, along with the other players for being brave enough to come with him and join in his ‘engagement effort’”.

This was Rodman’s fourth trip to Pyongyang. On previous visits he spent time dining as a guest of Kim, with whom he says he has a genuine friendship.

The visit come weeks after the execution of Kim’s uncle, Jang Song Thaek, who until then was one of the most powerful figures in the country. South Korean President Park Geun-hye has described events in North Korea as a “reign of terror”.

Rodman raised an outcry in the US in a TV interview where he appeared to suggest Korean- American missionary Kenneth Bae was to blame for his own captivity.

During an interview with CNN, Rodman seemed to say Bae, held in North Korea since November 2012 and convicted in May on charges of crimes against the state, was responsible for his situation.

“If you understand what Kenneth Bae did ... do you understand what he did in this country? Why is he held captive in this country?” Rodman said, declining to respond to questions to clarify what he meant.”

Bae’s sister, Terri Chung, said her family was outraged by Rodman’s comments and he could do a lot of good by using his access to the North Korea leader to advocate on Bae’s behalf, rather than “hurl outrageous accusations” at her brother.

Bae, 45, was given 15 years of hard labour for state subversion in North Korea. He was detained in 2012 as he led a tour group through the north.

Reuters