By It appears that Kim Jong-il’s youngest son is quite an NBA fan as well as pretty good basketball player in his younger days:
A picture of on North Korean heir apparent Kim Jong-un at the age of 16
Fellow students at Berne’s German-speaking Liebefeld-Steinhölzli School recall North Korean heir apparent Kim Jong-un as unremarkable and obsessed with basketball, the Washington Post said Wednesday.
Those who knew “Pak Un,” the name he used at the Swiss school, say he was indifferent to political issues and never made any anti-American comments. He worshipped basketball players in the NBA. A friend who visited his apartment at no. 10 Kirchstrasse, Liebefeld, recalls that Kim had a room filled with NBA-memorabilia.
“He proudly showed off photographs of himself standing with Toni Kukoc of the Chicago Bulls and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers. It is unclear where the pictures were taken. On at least one occasion, a car from the North Korean Embassy drove Pak Un to Paris to watch an NBA exhibition game,” the daily said.
In class, Pak Un was generally shy and awkward with girls, but he became a different person on basketball court, according to his classmates. “A fiercely competitive player,” said classmate Nikola Kovacevic. “He was very explosive. He could make things happen. He was the playmaker.” [Chosun Ilbo]
Some how I don’t think Kobe Bryant or the NBA will be using Kim Jong-un anytime soon to market themselves.
12:55 pm on July 18th, 2009 1
"Hi Kobe"
"We have alot in common"
"My dad is a rapist of an entire nation and you're an accused rapist…"
Damn. Talk about worthless news.
6:12 pm on July 18th, 2009 2
If Mini Kim went to an NBA exhibition in Paris then it could only have been the one in 1997. (The previous NBA exhibition game in Paris was in 1994 and the next one after 1997 was played in 2003.)
The Chicago Bulls played two exhibition games in Paris October 17-18, 1997. However I doubt Mini Kim's photo was taken at that time because one would wonder why the North Korean NBA fan only got a picture with Toni Kukoc and not Michael Jordan.
In June of 1999 Toni Kukoc played for Croatia in the European Championships, which were also held in France. Kukoc was the only NBA star on the court when Croatia beat Italy on June 21, 1999. Maybe Mini Kim went to that game from Switzerland and got his photo opportunity before or after the game.
In 1999 Kobe Bryant bought an ownership share in a Milan basketball team and spent several weeks in Italy the following summer before selling his share of the team in October 2000.
My guess is that the Kukoc photo was taken in France during June 1999 and the Kobe photo might have been taken at Italy during one of Kobe's promotional events in the summer of 2000.
2:51 am on July 19th, 2009 3
The idea of Kobe intervening in some way in the Laura Ling-Euna Lee situation now seems even more logical than ever…
http://liberatelaura.wordpress.com/2009/06/19/whe…
7:07 am on July 19th, 2009 4
I doubt Kobe would remember having his photo taken with one particular Asian fan, even if it was in June or July of 2000. Unlike the Toni Kukoc photo opportunity in France, I don't have reliable evidence to support my deduction that Mini Kim met Kobe in Italy during the summer of 2000. I can't find a specific promotional event in Italy that Kobe might have attended, so it's hard to pinpoint one that Mini Kim might have been aware of. All I know is that when Kobe went to Italy in June/July of 2000, he was supposed to do some promotional events while on business with the basketball team in Milan that he bought a 50% share in (including promotions with Upper Deck sports cards).
Would news of these events reach the attention of a certain Asian fan in neighboring Switzerland? I'm really not sure.
One thing I did not mention in my above post is the fact that Kobe attended the International School of Basel in Switzerland during 1991-92 when he was 14.
Although it's not the same school Mini Kim was enrolled in, there is also the chance that Kobe might have included a stop in Switzerland during the summer of 2000 while on business in Italy. A publicized return appearance in Basel by the 1997 NBA Slam Dunk champion certainly would have caught the attention of schoolkids in Berne. Again, I don't have any evidence whatsoever to support this theory without asking Kobe himself about his European appearances during that time period. Any sports reporter could easily ask Kobe this question*, yet we may have to wait until Mini Kim is effectively the new leader of North Korea before it merits serious consideration.
(For any journalists reading ROK Drop, the question to ask Kobe Bryant is: "Did you make any publicized promotional appearances in Italy or Switzerland during the summer of 2000 and, if so, was there one Asian fan you might possibly recall?")
8:16 am on July 19th, 2009 5
Spelunker: I have taken the liberty of contacting a leading L.A. sports writer, sharing the original Washington Post article URL, your comments here, etc. Who knows, perhaps we'll get an answer from Kobe…