THE FBI met recently with former NBA player Dennis Rodman to seek information about his trip to North Korea earlier this year.
After Rodman received worldwide attention when he visited the country and its leader, Kim Jong Un, in February, he said the FBI sought him out to ask questions and learn more about the political climate in the Communist nation that has heightened international tensions with its nuclear program.
“They wanted to know what went on and who’s really in charge in North Korea,” Rodman told the Miami Herald. “I have been invited back to North Korea in August and I want to go.”
Rodman, the flamboyant figure and Hall of Famer, a diplomat? Rodman, 51, wasn’t representing the U.S. government on the trip with the Harlem Globetrotters for a new HBO series, but he did bring back some perspective.
“I know what Kim Jong Un is threatening to do regarding his military muscle,” Rodman told the Herald. “I hope it doesn’t happen because America will take whatever actions to protect America and our allies. I do think that we have to talk to people who want to cause us harm so hopefully they won’t.”
As for Kim, who assumed power in 2011, and his treatment of the North Korean people, Rodman said, “As a person to person, he’s my friend. I don’t condone what he does.”