United States diplomat Dennis Rodman is heading back to North Korea.
…The first half of that sentence was a joke, but the rest is real.
The former Bulls forward and NBA Hall of Famer was spotted at the Beijing International Airport today, and unnamed North Korean officials confirmed to CNN that he will arrive in Pyongyang on Tuesday.
Dennis declined to answer questions when confronted by the media at the airport.
Rodman has visited North Korea several times, including three separate trips between 2013 and 2014. In January of 2014, Rodman and other retired NBA players put on an exhibition basketball game for the dictator and his friends. The Worm described it as a birthday gift to Kim Jong Un, who Dennis refers to as a “very good guy.”
The five-time champion took lots of heat and criticism for his previous visits, but insisted his visits to the troubled nation are merely for the purpose of “basketball diplomacy.” Rodman did not bring up North Korea’s detention of certain U.S. citizens in his previous visit, and likely won’t discuss the four Americans currently being held by order of Kim Jong Un.
Tensions between the U.S. and North Korea have escalated steadily since Rodman’s most recent visit, specifically with regard to the developments in North Korea’s nuclear arms program.
Call me skeptical – and Dennis is my second favorite Bulls player ever – but I don’t think any progress for peace will be made on The Worm’s upcoming trip. He’s not the diplomatic type, as most NBA fans know quite well. Hopefully – for all our sake – it’s just basketball talk.
