Dennis Rodman has sensationally knocked back widespread reports about one of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s most noted acts of brutality.
The controversial star said reports that Kim executed his own uncle were false — adding that he saw the ill-fated relative during a recent trip to the Stalinist state.
In an interview with DuJour magazine, the retired athlete known for his tattoos, piercings and flamboyant ways insisted the uncle was still alive, even though North Korean state media reported that Jang Song-Thaek was executed in December for “anti-state acts.”
“You could say anything here about North Korea and people would believe it,” Rodman said.
“The last time I went there, when they said they killed his girlfriend, they killed his uncle, they just fed him to the dogs … They were standing right behind me.”
The journalist conducting the interview then asked him to clarify, pointing out that the North Korean regime has made clear the uncle was executed — but Rodman repeated the claim. “He was standing right there,” Rodman said.
Kim’s ex-girlfriend, singer Hyon Song-wol, was reportedly gunned down in front of her family just three days after being arrested for breaching North Korean pornography laws last year, South Korea’s largest daily newspaper reported.
Hyon was among a dozen well-known performers executed with machine guns.
The performers — all members of the Unhasu Orchestra — were accused of filming themselves engaging in sex acts and selling the tapes.
Doubt has been cast over not only the accusations, but also the reports — underlining the difficulty of establishing facts about goings-on in the rogue nation.
Rodman has been accused of being duped by the Pyongyang regime and pandering to the North Korean leader — for example, by singing “Happy Birthday” to Kim at an exhibition basketball game — and dismissing evidence of rampant rights abuses and repression.
Rodman said Kim wants to hold discussions with President Obama and has told him the North has nuclear weapons because it is a small country that has to defend itself.
“He really, really wants to talk to Obama. He can’t say it enough,” Rodman said.
“He’s saying that he doesn’t want to bomb anybody. He said, ‘I don’t want to kill Americans.’ He loves Americans.”
However, he’s not been so keen on North Koreans.
Kim’s uncle, considered a mentor to the young supreme leader, was arrested, swiftly tried for treason and executed on Dec. 12, according to North Korean state media.
The North appears to be preparing to stage a fourth nuclear test in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions, arms experts and US officials say.
Rodman described dining with Kim on a huge yacht and said the North Korean leader was ecstatic when he proposed staging an exhibition game in his honor.
Kim “jumped up in the air, started clapping and telling everybody, ‘Oh my God! He’s throwing a basketball game for me!’” Rodman said.
The former power forward said Kim’s wife dresses more fashionably than other Korean women.
She “likes Gucci, Versace. She dressed really cool,” Rodman said.
The North Korean leader is reported to be a huge fan of basketball and especially of the Chicago Bulls, with whom Rodman won three NBA titles alongside Michael Jordan in the 1990s.
Rodman prompted outrage in January when he suggested in an interview with CNN that a Korean-American Christian tour operator was to blame after being imprisoned in North Korea.
He later apologized and blamed his outburst on heavy drinking. Rodman checked into a rehab facility in New Jersey shortly thereafter.
Of his alcoholism, Rodman has said: “I’ve always been a party animal (and) the reason I drink is because I’m bored.”
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