Add Category
Story highlights
- Rodman is on a visit to North Korea that's expected to last four nights
- He personally knows Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump
The NBA Hall of Famer is perhaps the only person in the world who has personal relationships with both the US President -- he participated on Trump's pre-presidency reality TV show, "The Celebrity Apprentice" -- and North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.
Rodman has called Kim a "friend for life" and previously said that his relationship with the young leader -- who's been accused of executing hundreds of people to cement his authority -- is primarily about basketball, not politics.
The five-time NBA champion has traveled to North Korea for informal "basketball diplomacy" a handful of times in the past and told CNN earlier this week at the airport in Beijing he hoped to do "something that's pretty positive" before he boarded a plane bound for the reclusive state.
A US national security spokesman, Michael Anton, told CNN Rodman was not acting as a representative of the US government or President Donald Trump and stated that he does not believe the President has spoken to Rodman since he entered office.
The basketball star's visit is expected to last four nights. It's unclear if he and Kim will meet in person.