North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, his wife Ri Sol-Ju and former NBA basketball player Dennis Rodman talk in Pyongyang during his visit earlier this year.Former NBA player Dennis Rodman will arrive in Pyongyang on Tuesday for another visit, but he said that he will not negotiate the release of a jailed American missionary during his five-day trip.
“I’m not going to North Korea to discuss freeing Kenneth Bae,” Rodman told Reuters in a telephone interview.“I’m just going there on another basketball diplomacy tour.”
There had been talk that Rodman, who visited Pyongyang for the first time in February, would try to secure the release of Kenneth Bae, a Christian missionary and tour guide, was arrested last year by North Korean authorities and has been sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for “hostile acts” against the government.
During an interview with an interview with HuffPost Live last week, Rodman said he was “definitely” going to ask Kim Jong-Un for Bae’s release.
“I will definitely ask for Kenneth Bae’s release,” he told HuffPost Live. “I will say, ‘Marshal, why is this guy held hostage?’ I could try and soften it up in that way.”
Rodman said he would be “the most powerful guy in the world” if he successfully negotiated Bae’s release.
But on Monday, Rodman told Reuters his latest trip was to see my friend (Kim) - and I want to talk about basketball.”
Rodman was criticized for his earlier trip to North Korea. At the time, he called Kim, 30, “an awesome kid.”
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