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Paddy Power North Korea Dennis Rodman

PaddyPower’s North Korean diplomacy sparks human rights calls

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By John Glenday, Reporter

December 19, 2013 | 2 min read

PaddyPower, the Irish betting firm which has sponsored basketball star Dennis Rodman as a form of international diplomacy, has come to the attention of the only person born in a labour camp there to escape to the west.

In an open letter to Rodman Shin Dong-hyuk calls for an upcoming basketball match in the hermit state, billed as the ‘Big Bang in Pyongyang’, to be used as a platform to influence the countries young leader, Kim Jong-un.

The PaddyPower sponsored match will take place in January and will see a team of former professional US players take on a team of North Koreans trained by Rodman.

In his letter, published in the Washington Post, Dong-hyuk wrote: “I am writing to you, Mr. Rodman, because, more than anything else, I want Kim Jong Un to hear the cries of his people. Maybe you could use your friendship and your time together to help him understand that he has the power to close the camps and rebuild the country’s economy so everyone can afford to eat.

“No dictatorship lasts forever. Freedom will come to North Korea someday. When it does, my wish is that you will have, in some way, helped bring about change. I end this letter in the hope that you can use your friendship with the dictator to be a friend to the North Korean people.”

Paddy Power North Korea Dennis Rodman

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