Twenty years ago this week, long before Dennis Rodman sparked international outcry with similar trips, a most unlikely group of Americans visited North Korea against all advice as invited guests of the government: a troupe of major professional wrestlers, a pair of wrestling officials, Muhammad Ali’s photographer, Howard Bingham, and Ali himself. The unlikely ambassadors were offered a rare glimpse into the bizarre, isolationist autocracy as part of the International Sports and Cultural Festival for Peace, a massive effort to demonstrate North Korea’s vitality to the outside world and its own citizenry. The celebration’s main event would be two nights of wrestling at Pyongyang’s May Day...
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