Former US basketball star Dennis Rodman says he hopes that his visit to North Korea to see Kim Jong-un and play basketball will "bring a lot of countries together".
The former US basketball star Dennis Rodman said on his way to Pyongyang that he hoped a game in North Korea in January could be seen as an opportunity for dialogue between the US government and the isolated Asian regime.
Rodman considers the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to be a close friend and is headed to Pyongyang to train the national basketball team for the exhibition game that will be part of Kim's birthday celebrations.
"I hope this game brings a lot of countries together, because like I said, sports it is so important to people around the world," Rodman said while waiting to board a flight to Pyongyang from China.
"I hope this is going to engage the American people, especially about President Obama, just to try to talk to them," he continued.
Rodman said that the trip remained unaffected by the execution of Kim Jong-un's uncle last week.
"I've got nothing to do with that," the NBA hall of famed former player said about the death of Jang Song Thaek.
Rodman, known as much for his piercings, tattoos and bad behaviour as he was for basketball, is the highest-profile American to meet Kim Jong-un since the leader inherited power from his father Kim Jong-il in 2011.
Rodman travelled to the secretive state for the first time in February with the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team for an HBO series produced by New York-based VICE television.
Rodman has been criticised for not talking about North Korea's human rights record, described as one of the world's worst by activists, the US State Department and North Korean defectors.
The defectors have repeatedly testified about the government's alleged use of indiscriminate killings, rapes, beatings and prison camps holding as many as 120,000 people deemed opponents of Kim Jong-un who is the third generation of his family to rule.
On Tuesday, a US State Department spokesperson insisted that Rodman is not representing the US government in his trips to North Korea.
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