Ri Myung-hun

Ri Myung-hun (; born 14 September 1967), also known as Michael Ri after his favorite basketball player Michael Jordan, is a North Korean former basketball player. At a height of and a weight of , he is believed to be the tallest person in North Korea.

Basketball career Ri played center for the North Korea national basketball team, appearing at two Asian Games in 1990 and 2002. Once proclaimed to be the tallest living human being in the world, he stands tall and once planned to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the 1990s.

In anticipation of joining the NBA, Ri worked out in Canada, where he was scouted by numerous teams. But he was unable to play in the league because of a U.S. ban on trade set forth in a piece of legislation called the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917. Ri was permitted to conduct an interview with CNN's Mike Chinoy in which he was quoted as saying, "I'm a big man. I want to test my ability. I am not interested in money or politics. As a sportsman, I just want to try."