Dennis Rodman Returns To North Korea, Seeking To Make ‘Positive’ Difference

Former NBA player Dennis Rodman has returned to North Korea, and is hoping to accomplish “something that’s pretty positive” in the authoritarian Asian nation.

Dennis Rodman returns to North Korea to bring sports

The 56-year-old Rodman — an NBA Hall of Famer — was spotted at Beijing International Airport on Tuesday before landing in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital.

CNN first reported the development.

Although details concerning the exact purpose of Rodman’s visit remain unknown, some analysts believe the retired basketball star is seeking to relay a message from President Donald Trump, who had previously lauded his attempts to engage North Korea following the country’s repeated recent attempts to launch nuclear missile strikes. Rodman’s visit to the country coincides with the unexpected release of Otto F. Warmbier, an American college student who had been detained as a prisoner in North Korea for more than one year.

Warmbier, 23, was sentenced to a 15-year prison term for attempting to steal a propaganda poster in January 2016. After he committed the act, North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency accused the then-University of Virginia student with the intent of “bringing down the foundation of its single-minded unity.”

A US national security spokesman, Michael Anton, told CNN there is no connection between Rodman’s visit and Warmbier’s release. Anton said Rodman was not acting as a representative of the US government or President Donald Trump.

One State Department source also told CNN that Rodman’s visit was completely unrelated to Warmier’s release.

Rodman announced on Twitter early Tuesday that he had arrived in the nation, saying “I’m back” and thanking his sponsor PotCoin.com, which offers banking services to the legal marijuana industry.

When Rodman landed in Pyongyang, four Americans were being held in North Korea. Asked if he intended to bring up their detention to country officials, the NBA legend stated: “Well that’s not my purpose right now… My purpose is to go over there and try to see if I can keep bringing sports to North Korea.”

The New York Times reported that United States under secretary of state for political affairs Thomas A. Shannon Jr. — who was traveling in Tokyo on Tuesday — had knowledge of Rodman’s trip, though he advised other Americans not to follow his lead and visit North Korea, a country that bears a very tenuous relationship with the U.S because of its missile tests, due to the high probability of arrest or long-term detention. North Korea’s nuclear weapons program has now launched six missile tests.

“We are aware of his visit,” Mr. Shannon said. “We wish him well, but we have issued travel warnings to Americans and suggested they not travel to North Korea for their own safety.”

Suzanne DiMaggio, a director and senior fellow at the New America think tank who had been involved in unofficial talks with North Korea, tweeted that she believes there may be some contact between Rodman and the Trump administration, given that the President lauded the retired basketball player’s previous trip to the country in 2013.

The former Detroit Pistons power forward first visited North Korea in February 2013 and became one of the first Americans to meet Kim Jong-Un, who took over as leader of the country following the death of his father in December 2011. Kim, a longtime basketball fan, invited Rodman to an exhibition game that featured three Harlem Globetrotters.

Rodman returned to North Korea in September 2013 and then a few months later made a visit with several former NBA stars.

Trump discussed Rodman and North Korean in an interview with Fox News in 2013, the same year the former NBA star appeared on “The Celebrity Apprentice.” (Rodman first appeared on the reality television show in 2009).

“Maybe Dennis is a lot better than what we have,” said Trump.

Rodman endorsed Trump for president in 2015.

Officials in former President Barack Obama’s administration stated they would have prevented Rodman from traveling to North Korea if they had the authority to do so. The NBA has not commented, and Rodman has already drawn harsh criticism from politicians and human rights advocates for granting positive publicity to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, one of the world’s most repressive countries.

In January 2014, Rodman was recorded starting a “Happy Birthday” sing-along to Kim, a leader Rodman called a “very good guy” and a friend. Rodman defended the trip to North Korea for a basketball game on Kim’s birthday, saying it was a “great idea for the world.”

“I’m sorry for what’s going on in North Korea, the certain situations,” Rodman told CNN after returning from Pyongyang in 2014, though he didn’t specify what those “situations” were, nor did he seem remorseful about the trip itself.

Following this excursion, Rodman was lambasted by many Americans for not mentioning the case of Kenneth Bae, a a Korean-American who had been sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in North Korea. Bae, a Christian missionary, was released in November 2014. He said he believed Rodman has helped him because he raised public awareness of his imprisonment.

Rodman said in several interviews in 2013 and 2014, including one on celebrity news site TMZ, that it was not up to him to address Bae’s case because he is not a diplomat. The former NBA star was also criticized for ignoring North Korea’s severe human rights violations.

Pyongyan has reportedly imprisoned more than 100,000 of its own people in Soviet-style prison camps and invested millions in its military program rather than on its impoverished population.

NEW YORK, NY – DECEMBER 09:  Dennis Rodman Visits The FOX Business Network at FOX Studios on December 9, 2014 in New York City.  (Photo by Laura Cavanaugh/Getty Images)