When Dennis Rodman and the Harlem Globetrotters arrived in North Korea earlier this year, the Western media was fixated on the oddities of this trip. A former NBA bad boy sitting next to a short, pudgy dictator certainly makes for an interesting photo. However, a key question was left unanswered: What did the average North Korean think of Rodman and the Globetrotters? The answer reveals a great deal about North Korea’s uncomfortable relationship with America’s racial diversity.

In state-run media, the Rodman and Globetrotter “party” were said to have mixed with North Korean citizens and enjoyed an “amicable atmosphere.”