Leaving Beijing for Pyongyang, Dennis Rodman told reporters his upcoming visit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un was a "friendly gesture," nothing more.
(AP Photo/Andy Wong)
A friend of mine is convinced that ex-basketball star
Dennis Rodman is “The Answer” to the Syria crisis.
Dear him.
Nevertheless, it seems ole Rodman a.k.a. “The Worm” might very well be primed for the state department – having arrived today in Pyongyang for a visit that some say could include Rodman asking North Korea's Kim Jong Un for the release of U.S. citizen Kenneth Bae.
“I gave you a great indication of when I’m going to Beijing soon – that’s just a hop, skip and a jump from North Korea. So basically, you know. I’m pretty sure I’ll be talking to (Kim) pretty soon soon,” Rodman told the Huffington Post last week about the trip, which he called part of a “basketball diplomacy tour.”
But Bae’s release wouldn’t be up for discussion when the two hang out, Rodman told Reuters before leaving Beijing for Pyongyang this week.
“I’m just trying to go over there to meet my friend Kim, the Marshal. Try to start a basketball league over there, something like that,” he said.
And throw in a little negotiating, too maybe?
Last November, Bae was arrested for what Pyongyang called “hostile acts” against North Korea and this spring, he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.
Though Rodman told reporters this week he was not in town to be a diplomat, last week he told the HuffPost he would ask for Bae’s release if the opportunity availed itself,
CNN reports.
On
HuffPost Live he would ask Kim – his “friend for life” - why Bae was being held.
“I could try and soften it up that way,” Rodman said.
“If the Marshal says, ‘Dennis, you know, do you want me to let him loose?’ and then if I actually got him loose – and I’m just saying this out of the blue – I’d be the most powerful guy in the world.”
Sigh.
Earlier this year, Rodman drew criticism for his first meetup with the Communist leader. And with the revelation that Rodman would be going back for a second visit, some asked Rodman to at least make the trip count.
“..Perhaps now is the time for the NBA has-been to practice some real basketball diplomacy and call up his so-called friend for a favor: Grant American detainee Kenneth Bae amnesty and release him to his family,” wrote
The Seattle Times’ Thanh Tan in May.
Rodman replied “Ok” via twitter.
And he would return to Twitter to ask Kim to “do me a solid and cut Kenneth Bae loose.”
Rodman said last week that the May tweet was sent from one of his people, not him.
We saw how that turned out.
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