Dennis Rodman: I Know What North Korea Wants

Could the answer to one of our greatest geopolitical puzzles be a basketball game?
By Josh Rosenblatt,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 11, 2017 3:05 PM CST
Dennis Rodman: I Know What North Korea Wants
Former NBA basketball player Dennis Rodman arrives at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing,   (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Dennis Rodman claims to know what North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wants from the United States, but the former NBA star-turned-amateur diplomat says the only person he'll tell is Donald Trump. In Beijing after what he called "a great week of humanitarian work in Guam and Tokyo," Rodman told reporters Monday he still has hopes of brokering a peace between Trump and the man he calls "The Marshal." "I’ve been trying to tell Donald since day one, "Come talk to me, man ... I'll tell you what the Marshal wants more than anything ... It’s not even that much,'" Rodman told the Guardian. Asked what that something might be, Rodman was coy. "I ain’t telling you," he said. "I will tell him [Trump] when I see him."

It's possible the answer is a basketball game. While speaking in Beijing, Rodman said he hopes to put on an exhibition game between North Korea and the US territory of Guam, the Los Angeles Times reports. “The people in Guam are all about it. They love it," Rodman said. "You get a team from North Korea, get these guys from Pyongyang. Play it in Beijing." Rodman even said Guam's national team coach is up for the game. Rodman has visited North Korea several times over the last few years, the first trip coming in 2013, when he met Kim and the two men reportedly bonded over their shared love of basketball. He was most recently there in June (with gifts in tow), but whether Rodman makes it back to the Hermit Kingdom remains to be seen: The US enacted a ban on all travel to the country in September. (More Dennis Rodman stories.)

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