Rodman arrives in Pyongyang

DPRK leader said to have been a fan of the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s

Flamboyant former NBA star Dennis Rodman's colorful tweets from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea appeared to have upset the best-known cultural export of the Republic of Korea, the Gangnam Style rapper Psy.

In one of several tweets since he arrived in Pyongyang on Tuesday with members of the Harlem Globetrotters, the retired basketball Hall of Famer wondered if he might meet up with Psy during his stay there.

"Maybe I'll run into the Gangnam Style dude while I'm here," he tweeted.

Whether Rodman was joking or not, Psy clearly decided he needed to be set right on the geopolitics of the Korean peninsula, and which side he hailed from.

"@dennisrodman I'm from #SOUTH man!!!" the singer retorted on his Twitter feed on Wednesday.

Psy, who has been on a constant world tour since his Gangnam Style video became the viral hit of 2012 and garnered more than a billion YouTube hits, was in his home country on Monday performing at the inauguration of the ROK's new President Park Geun-hye.

Seoul and Pyongyang remain technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War was concluded with a cease-fire rather than a peace treaty.

Inter-Korean tensions are running particularly high at the moment, after the DPRK conducted its third nuclear test earlier this month.

Arriving in Pyongyang, the US athlete and showman became an unlikely ambassador for sports diplomacy at a time of heightened tensions between the United States and the DPRK. Or maybe not so unlikely: DPRK leader Kim Jong-un is said to have been a fan of the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s, when Rodman won three championships with the club.

Rodman was joined by three members of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team.

"It's my first time, I think it's most of these guys' first time here, so hopefully everything is going to be OK, and hoping the kids have a good time for the game," Rodman said after arriving.

"They love basketball here. Honored to represent the United States of America," Rodman tweeted.

But the US State Department refused to comment on the visit on Tuesday .

State Department deputy spokesman Patrick Ventrell said it doesn't "vet" US citizens' private trips to the DPRK.

"In terms of this private travel to do basketball with kids, we just don't take a position on this private travel."

Rodman, 51, was low-key and soft-spoken in cobalt blue sweatpants and a cap. There was a bit of flash: white-rimmed sunglasses and studs in his nose and lower lip.

AFP-AP-Xinhua

(China Daily 02/28/2013 page10)