Former basketball star Dennis Rodman touched down in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Tuesday, prepared for a second meeting with the dictator he dubs his friend, Kim Jong-un.
He met and praised North Korea’s leader during a February get-together at a Harlem Globetrotters match in the nation — the first American to meet the leader, The Associated Press reported.
On that occasion, he tried to persuade the leader to let go American prisoner Kenneth Bae, a Washington man who traveled frequently to the North Korea for charitable and business endeavors, but who was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for alleged political crimes.
Mr. Rodman’s visit Tuesday wasn’t about Mr. Bae, though.
At the airport in Beijing, he declared his purpose as attempting “to bridge a gap with Americans and North Korea,” and said he was due to dine with Mr. Kim on either Tuesday or Wednesday, AP reported. He also specified he wouldn’t be speaking of Mr. Bae.
“I’m not a diplomat,” he said repeatedly to press at the airport. “I’m … there to just have a good time with him and his family. That’s pretty much it.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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