Rodman mixes up Koreas on trip to North

Former NBA star Dennis Rodman appears to have mixed up his Koreas on a visit to Pyongyang, tweeting that he expected to run into South Korean rapper Psy on his trip to the North.

Rodman, famed for his tattoos, piercings and radical hair colors from his time on court, arrived in North Korea on Tuesday to shoot some hoops and a documentary to be aired on HBO in April.

“Maybe I’ll run into the Gangnam Style dude while I’m here,” the 51-year-old tweeted after his arrival.

Psy, a 35-year-old roly-poly rapper, shot to global fame with his “Gangnam Style” song last year, garnering more than a billion YouTube hits for his portrayal of the ritzy and shallow Gangnam enclave in the southern part of the South Korean capital of Seoul.

While Pyongyang is by far the richest part of North Korea, Rodman is unlikely to see the kind of wealth and designer chic on display in Gangnam.

The North’s economy is one-fortieth the size of South Korea’s, according to most independent estimates, and is smaller than it was 20 years ago according to the United Nations.

The only bling that Rodman may encounter in North Korea appears to come from the third generation of the country’s ruling family.

Jowly 30-yeaR-old dictator Kim Jong-un has a penchant for Disney shows and fun-fairs, while his young wife - rumored to have given birth recently - has been seen sporting a Dior bag.

Many North Koreans struggle to put adequate amounts of food on the table each day and recent reports suggested there had been a famine in the country’s food-basket area in 2012.

Rodman will film a television documentary with representatives of the Harlem Globetrotters celebrity team, North Korean state television reported. The trip to Pyongyang was organized by a New York-based television production company, VICE.

Reuters