During the late 1990s, when North Korea remained almost completely sealed off from the international sports world, Western basketball scouts and journalists caught wind of a rumor out of Pyongyang that sounded like a Cold War tall tale: the North Korean national basketball team possessed a center who towered several inches above the tallest giants in the NBA. When Ri Myung Hun—who proudly adopted the English nickname “Michael Ri” in honor of his idol, Michael Jordan—finally stepped onto an international court, the rumors proved completely true. Standing an astonishing seven feet eight and a half inches (235 centimeters) tall, Ri was recognized by Guinness World Records as the tallest living basketball player on Earth, sparking a three-year diplomatic saga when he tried to become the first North Korean citizen ever to play in the NBA.
Spotted on the Streets of Pyongyang and Trained as a National Secret
Born on September fourteenth, 1967, in North Korea, Ri Myung Hun grew so rapidly during his youth that talent scouts from the state sports ministry identified him early and brought him to Pyongyang to train as the centerpiece of the national basketball program. Because North Korea’s former Supreme Leader, Kim Jong Il, was a passionate fan of American basketball and specifically obsessed with the 1990s Chicago Bulls, Ri was given privileged state housing, a specialized high-calorie diet, and an oversized custom vehicle so his nearly eight-foot frame could travel through the capital.
On the court, Ri’s physical dimensions defied standard basketball defenses:
- Standing Dunk Capability: With a standing reach exceeding ten feet, Ri could literally keep his size-21 sneakers planted flat on the hardwood floor and drop the basketball down into the ten-foot rim without jumping.
- Soft Shooting Touch: Unlike many players of extreme pituitary height who struggle with hand-eye coordination, Ri possessed a surprisingly smooth, accurate mid-range bank shot and hook shot, regularly scoring thirty to fifty points per game in Asian international tournaments, including the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok where he averaged over twenty-six points per contest.
1997: The Canadian Workout and the NBA’s Diplomatic Wall
In the spring of 1997, looking both to earn hard foreign currency and showcase North Korean athletic prowess to the world, officials in Pyongyang made an unprecedented decision: they granted the twenty-nine-year-old Ri permission to travel to Ottawa, Canada, accompanied by a government minder, to train with Canadian coaches and audition for the National Basketball Association.
Over several months in Canada, Ri underwent medical evaluations, worked on his footwork, and showcased his skills in front of general managers and scouts from at least seven NBA franchises, including the Cleveland Cavaliers, Portland Trail Blazers, and Vancouver Grizzlies. Standing two and a half inches taller than NBA record-holders Gheorghe Mureșan and Manute Bol, Ri generated immediate interest as a backup low-post weapon and box-office attraction. However, just as contract discussions gained traction, Ri’s NBA dream slammed into a geopolitical brick wall:
- The Trading With the Enemy Act: Because the United States and North Korea had never signed a formal peace treaty after the 1953 Korean War armistice, the U.S. State Department and Treasury Department barred any American corporation—including an NBA franchise—from paying a salary that would transfer money directly to the North Korean regime.
- Pyongyang’s Salary Conditions: In 2000, the U.S. State Department relented and agreed to grant Ri a work visa on one strict condition: not a single dollar of Ri’s NBA salary could be sent back to the North Korean government while he played in America. Refusing to accept that restriction—and unwilling to let Ri live in the United States unless a portion of his wages went to the state—North Korean authorities rejected the deal.
The 1999 “Unification Game” and Quiet Retirement
Returning to Pyongyang after expressing nicely to reporters that he was simply content to have shown what a tall man could do with a basketball, Ri remained a beloved sports figure across the Korean Peninsula. In September 1999, during a brief thaw in inter-Korean relations, he starred in the historic “Goodwill Unification Basketball Games” held in Pyongyang and Seoul, where North and South Korean players were mixed together onto unified teams and Ri scored twenty-one points in a single half.
After retiring from active play in the early 2000s, Ri Myung Hun made one final memorable public appearance in Pyongyang in 2013 and 2014 when retired Chicago Bulls star Dennis Rodman brought a group of former NBA players to North Korea for an exhibition game—allowing the forty-six-year-old giant who called himself “Michael Ri” to finally stand court-side alongside a real champion of the 1990s Chicago Bulls.
