Sounds like The Rodman needs to register as a foreign agent of north Korea since he is now becoming a Public Relations representative (or useful idiot) for the regime.

"Let's go over there because this is a great opportunity for everyone to see a different culture. ... 'This country is so bad. This city is so bad.' OK, great, come see it and tell the world when you come back, 'Hey, it's not as bad as you think.' And that's why I'm taking NBA players over there.

Dennis Rodman ready to return to North Korea

November 23, 2013

http://m.smh.com.au/sport/basketball/dennis-rodman-ready-to-return-to-north-korea-20131123-2y2do.html

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and former NBA star Dennis Rodman watch an exhibition basketball game in Pyongyang, North Korea, February 28, 2013. Photo: Reuters

Dennis Rodman is preparing to thrill North Korean fans during an exhibition basketball tour there late next month.

Though he ducked questions about whether his Christmas-time visit would be used for propaganda purposes by Kim Jong Un, the 29-year-old leader of one of the world's most repressive regimes, Rodman said he'll be accompanied on the trip by a dozen or so former NBA players.

But he refused to name names.

"I have seven people right now," Rodman said.

"I talked to a couple of guys last week. Lot of guys are saying, 'OK, great. I'll go. We'll go.' But I'm not saying this to get people to go over there to prove a point.

"Let's go over there because this is a great opportunity for everyone to see a different culture. ... 'This country is so bad. This city is so bad.' OK, great, come see it and tell the world when you come back, 'Hey, it's not as bad as you think.' And that's why I'm taking NBA players over there.

"To show them, so they can come back and talk about it."

Back in the news as a self-appointed ambassador and friend of Kim, Rodman returned on Thursday to where he won the last three of his five NBA championships playing alongside Michael Jordan.

On a promotional tour to pitch a vodka brand, Rodman, 52, held court downtown amid camera flashes.

Rodman said he wouldn't talk about his relationship with Kim or North Korean politics, including its widely condemned human-rights record and secretive nuclear weapons program.

Though he eventually touched on those subjects, Rodman glossed over several related questions and largely ignored a challenge to his answer about whether North Korea was holding US citizens as hostages, including 85-year-old Korean War veteran Merrill Newman

(Continued at the link below)

http://m.smh.com.au/sport/basketball/dennis-rodman-ready-to-return-to-north-korea-20131123-2y2do.html

Dennis Rodman: Kim Jong Un Wants President Obama to ‘Call Him’

I know I said I would not send anything more about Rodman and north Korea.  The ABC interview is at the link.  My favorite quote from the interview:

“There is nobody at the CIA who can tell you more personally about Kim Jong Un than Dennis Rodman, and that in itself is scary,” Ganyard said.

Maybe he is a future Nobel Peace Prize winner if he brings Kim and Obama together on the basketball court since they both love basketball (note sarcasm).

Rodman is a piece of work and disgusting in his defense of Kim and prison camps and comparing the idea that we have prisons here in America too.  He claims that he is making history and will go back to find out more about what is going on.

George Stephanopoulos tries to take Rodman to task and challenges him on human rights.  Rodman gives some "interesting answers" but relies on calling Kim Jong-un his "friend."  He thinks the people genuinely love and respect him and blames his father and grandfather for the things he has to do.

V/R

Dave

Dennis Rodman: Kim Jong Un Wants President Obama to ‘Call Him’

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/03/dennis-rodman-kim-jong-un-wants-president-obama-to-call-him/

By Kari Rea

Julie Percha
@juliepercha
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Mar 3, 2013 9:32am

In his first interview since returning to the U.S. from an unprecedented visit to North Korea last week, former NBA star Dennis Rodman said he bears a message for President Obama from the country’s oppressive leader, Kim Jong Un.

“He wants Obama to do one thing: Call him,” Rodman told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on “This Week.” “He said, ‘If you can, Dennis – I don’t want [to] do war. I don’t want to do war.’ He said that to me.”

The athlete even offered Kim some diplomatic advice for potential future talks with President Obama.

“[Kim] loves basketball. And I said the same thing, I said, ‘Obama loves basketball.’ Let’s start there,” Rodman said.

Rodman’s comments come just days after the basketball star shocked the world with an unexpected trip to Pyongyang, North Korea, becoming the first known American to publicly meet with the mysterious Kim since he assumed command of the totalitarian nation after the death of his father, Kim Jong-Il in 2011.

The young leader has defied U.N. sanctions by continuing to develop North Korea’s nuclear arms and missile program, which he says is aimed at the U.S.

Kim is often regarded as one of the world’s most oppressive leaders, presiding over prison camps and allowing millions of his own people to starve.

PHOTOS: Kim Jong Un Through the Years

In a bizarre display of basketball diplomacy, Rodman went on the record to offer highest praise for Kim Thursday, telling reporters, “I love him. He’s awesome.”

Today on “This Week,” Rodman didn’t apologize for those comments.

“No, I’m not apologiz[ing] for him,” Rodman said. “You know, he’s a good guy to me. Guess what? He’s my friend. I don’t condone what he does …  [but] as a person to person – he’s my friend.”

ABC News

PHOTOS: Dennis Rodman Goes to North Korea

Rodman traveled through Pyongyang with members of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team and a camera crew from the upcoming HBO series, “VICE.” Kim warmly welcomed the Americans, with an itinerary that included ice skating, an aquarium visit and a long dinner and drinks.

During his visit, Rodman sat court side with Kim as they took in an exhibition basketball face-off with the Globetrotters and North Korean players. Kim, like his late father, is said to be a devoted basketball fan - especially for the 1990′s-era Chicago Bulls championship teams, which included Rodman. 

Rodman stood up to give a speech to the basketball crowd, at one point telling Kim, “You have a friend for life.”

Despite the unlikely pairing, Rodman said he has something in common with Kim and the North Korean people: a love of basketball.

“I’m not a politician. Kim Jung Un & North Korean people are basketball fans,” he tweeted. “I love everyone. Period. End of story.”

(Continued at the link below)

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/03/dennis-rodman-kim-jong-un-wants-president-obama-to-call-him/

Why Rodman’s Trip (to north Korea) Isn’t Ping Pong Diplomacy

Yes I would think that a debriefing of Rodman by State Department officials would be quite entertaining.  Interesting how the commentators in the article subtly put the blame on the US government for the behavior of the Kim Family Regime.  Sure the US could initiate dialogue and openings (as it has) it could propose normalcy (which it has stated it is willing to do).  The US has continually reduced its military presence since 1978 to include withdrawal of tactical nuclear weapons.  It has provided aid (heavy fuel oil, food, etc).  It has paid a heavy ransom to recover remains of US personnel.  It has removed north Korea from the terrorist list.  And what has the regime done?  It has continued to conduct provocations and blackmail diplomacy while committing arguably some of the worst human rights violations and crimes against humanity in history against its own people.  And of course the ROK government gave the north 10 years of the Sunshine policy and what did north Korea do?  How many provocations?  How many naval battles in the Northwest Islands?  

It is fashionable to blame the US for the north's intransigence perhaps but the facts are that the ROK and the US have provided plenty of opportunity for the north to act responsibility and it has not done so.  

So yes, I do not think it is the north that is ready for ping pong or basketball diplomacy. And I think it will be very telling how the propagandists spin this for internal and external political consumption.  The regime is not that hard to figure out because it has been very consistent for six decades and Kim Jong-un is not deviating from the strategic playbook – new tactics and approaches, yet, but not a new strategy.  Dennis Rodman has done more to prop up the internal legitimacy of the regime than he has contributed to any kind of potential diplomacy.  He has been used and duped.  But of course we live in a free country which includes the freedom to be stupid (and to act stupidly).

V/R
Dave

Why Rodman’s Trip Isn’t Ping Pong Diplomacy

By Jonathan DeHart

http://thediplomat.com/sport-culture/2013/03/01/why-rodmans-trip-isnt-ping-pong-diplomacy/

March 1, 2013

The bizarre, media-crazed “diplomatic” mission to North Korea by Dennis Rodman and three fellow Harlem Globetrotters has become more interesting by the day. Since arriving in Pyongyang, the emissaries have wandered well beyond the confines of the basketball court and received a highly controlled tour of North Korea’s offerings.

The visitors have rambled from state monuments and towers in central Pyongyang to the palace that is the resting place of Kim and Kim Jong Il, where North Korean state media reported that Rodman paid “high tribute.”

Rodman and Kim Jong Un sat side-by-side to watch Globetrotters and North Korean players compete on mixed teams. In photos taken during the match by VICE Media, Rodman is seen fully pierced, wearing a dark suit and sunglasses, while Kim, decked out in a blue Mao suit, sits beside him slapping his hands on the table and laughing. A can of Coca Cola prominently sits in front of Rodman on the table.

The Globetrotters delighted the audience, which “was really engaged, laughed at all of the Globetrotters’ antics and actually got super loud toward the end as the score got close,” said VICE correspondent Ryan Duffy who donned a blue “United States of America” uniform. “Most fun I’ve had in a while.”

The Americans gifted Kim with a Globetrotters uniform and the game ended in a 110-110 tie. “You have a friend for life,” Rodman reportedly told Kim in a speech to a crowd that numbered in the tens of thousands after the game.

The fun culminated at Kim Jong Un’s palace where Rodman, the Globetrotters and the VICE Media crew filming the spectacle for HBO, wined and dined on a spread that included smoked turkey and sushi. Multiple toasts were made. (Meanwhile, two-thirds of North Koreans survive on meager government handouts, with some resorting to eating grass and field mice.)

(Continued at the link below)

http://thediplomat.com/sport-culture/2013/03/01/why-rodmans-trip-isnt-ping-pong-diplomacy/